Nasr takes first F3 win amid chaos

The Brazilian was one of the chief beneficiaries of a first-lap maelstrom that eliminated his Raikkonen Robertson team-mate Carlos Huertas and badly delayed poleman Oli Webb (Fortec).

Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne (Carlin) appeared to be at fault for both incidents, squeezing Huertas to the inside on the run down to Deene until the Colombian spun down the track into retirement, then nerfing chief title rival Webb out of the lead under braking for the hairpin.

The incident caused ripples of chaos down the order and officials deployed the safety car for two laps as marshals cleared the aftermath of an accident that accounted for Huertas, his Double R team-mate Daisuke Nakajima, and Hitech pairing Gabriel Dias and Pietro Fantin. T-Sport's Alex Brundle and Carlin's Rupert Svendsen-Cook were also severely hampered.

Nasr trailed Carlin's Adriano Buzaid for half a dozen laps after the restart, before mugging his countryman for the lead with a classic switchback pass on the exit of the Deene hairpin.

Once ahead, the reigning Formula BMW Europe champion streaked away at the front of the field to record a dominant 15-second maiden win and the first of the season for Raikkonen Robertson Racing.

Buzaid spent most of the rest of the race as a moving roadblock in second. Team-mate Vergne had emerged from the first corner incident in fifth, but gradually moved up to third, thanks to a mistake by fellow Carlin driver James Calado at Pif Paf on lap nine, and a neat move on another Carlin pilot Jazeman Jaafar round the outside at Deene six laps later.

Buzaid's increasingly desperate defence of second (at one stage he ran on the inside line from the exit of the final corner all the way to Chapman Curve!) eventually crumbled and Vergne moved up to second with another round-the-outside-at-Deene manoeuvre with five laps to go.

Jaafar impatiently nudged Buzaid wide at Yentwood on the following lap and then lost his front wing on the run through Pif Paf. As the Malaysian tumbled back through the order, Calado emerged third with Buzaid hanging on to fourth place.

Undoubtedly angered by the first-lap happenings at Deene, Webb mounted a mighty recovery charge to move through the field and close down this squabbling pack.

He jumped as high as fifth when Buzaid and Jaafar came together, but lost the place back to Hitech's Will Buller at Deene on the penultimate lap.

Reigning British Formula Ford champion James Cole headed T-Sport team-mate Menasheh Idafar to take National Class honours in seventh overall, while CF Racing with Manor Motorsport's Hywel Lloyd and Jay Bridger's Lotus Formula 1 liveried Litespeed F3 car rounded out the top 10.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car     Time/Gap
 1.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M   40m15.189s
 2.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V    + 15.652s
 3.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V    + 21.808s
 4.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V    + 25.012s
 5.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V    + 27.365s
 6.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M    + 28.888s
 7.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H    + 35.375s
 8.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H    + 36.031s
 9.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M    + 37.355s
10.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M    + 42.335s
11.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V    + 53.737s
12.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M    + 53.973s
13.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M    + 56.290s
14.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V  + 1m12.241s
15.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V     + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  20 laps
     Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  14 laps
     Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1 lap
     Pietro Fantin         Hitech               D/V  0 laps
     Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  0 laps
     Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V  0 laps