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Parente Wins Second Croft Race

Alvaro Parente made up for his race one disappointment to grab victory in Sunday's rain-affected second British Formula Three Championship race at Croft

The Portuguese, who had seen his chances of victory in the first race evaporate after a poor start from pole position, made sure not to make the same mistake again as he powered into the lead at the first corner.

Despite the tricky conditions, Parente had little trouble edging out a lead from the chasing pack - with the pursuing Mike Conway and Christian Bakkerud jostling for hard for second position in the early stages.

Their battle ended in contact on lap five, however, when Conway ran wide coming out of Tower and lost momentum - allowing Bakkerud to get alongside him. With neither driver willing to concede the place, the pair collided - leaving Conway out on the spot.

Bakkerud was able to continue but there was little he could do to challenge the leader, as he came home 1.5 seconds adrift at the chequered flag.

The most spectacular drive of the race came from Dan Clarke, who had found himself down in 14th place early on after running wide at the Esses. He staged a major fight back to claim the third spot - as well as set the fastest race lap in the process.

Ryan Lewis finished fourth, ahead of Bruno Senna, Salvador Duran and Marko Asmer, who had run off the track at Tower on lap four while in fifth place.

There was further disappointment for Danilo Dirani, who had headed into the Croft weekend in the lead of the Championship. Following a collision with Dan Clarke, which put him out of race one, he again failed to make an impact in race two after he ran off the track and into a field on lap four at Tower.

Although the Brazilian got back onto the track, he was not happy with the handling of his car and, after several pit-stops, he eventually came home eight laps down and outside the classified finishers.

Tim Bridgman also left Croft massively disappointed after he crashed out of third place near the end of the race after getting it wrong at the Esses.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver              Make                          Time
 1.  Alvaro Parente      Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      29:25.389
 2.  Christian Bakkerud  Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      +   1.536
 3.  Dan Clarke          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      +   8.426
 4.  Ryan Lewis          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      +  11.826
 5.  Bruno Senna         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      +  13.831
 6.  Salvador Duran      Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +  15.237
 7.  Marko Asmer         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda      +  17.929
 8.  James Walker        Dallara F305 Opel Spiess      +  21.198
 9.  Steven Kane         Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda       +  24.812
10.  Barton Mawer        Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +  27.838
11.  Juho Annala         Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +  31.355
12.  Jonathan Kennard    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +  31.936
13.  Josh Fisher         Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +  32.658
14.  Mike Conway         Dallara Opel Spiess           +  38.200
15.  Ronayne O'mahony    Dallara F305 Opel Spiess      +  38.747
16.  Stephen Jelley      Dallara F305 Opel Spiess      +  56.039
17.  Charlie Hollings    Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda  +1:07.694
18.  Nick Jones          Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda      +   1 Lap

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

    Driver              Make                         On Lap
    Tim Bridgman        Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda       14
    Cheong Lou Meng     Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda       14
    Charlie Kimball     Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda       10
    Danilo Dirani       Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda        10
    Keiko Ihara         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda        3
    Ricardo Teixeira    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda        0

Fastest Lap

Championship: Dan Clarke        1:26.843, Lap 18
National:     Charlie Hollings  1:28.146, Lap 18

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