Pietro Fantin claims his maiden Formula 3 win after a penalty for Felipe Nasr
Pietro Fantin claimed his maiden British Formula 3 win in the first race at Rockingham, after officials slapped championship leader Felipe Nasr with a drive-through penalty
Carlin driver Nasr passed poleman Fantin's Hitech car through the banked first turn after the start and led the opening 14 laps of the race, but a penalty for not respecting the track limits dropped him down the order.
Fantin closed out the final eight laps to take his first win in the category, leading home Carlin trio Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Jack Harvey and Jazeman Jaafar.
"My start was not the best - my clutch slipped a bit - so I just had to keep following," said the winner. "It might not have been possible to get the place back, but luck is a part of motorsport and I had it!"
This closely-matched leading quartet was trailed home at some distance by Carlin's Carlos Huertas in fifth, while Nasr rejoined eighth after his penalty but recovered to sixth after repassing Double R's Scott Pye and Fortec's Will Buller.
Buller was also slapped with a drive-through penalty for running repeatedly outside the track limits, but failed to serve it before the chequered flag fell and crossed the line seventh.
Carlin's Kevin Magnussen ran fourth in the early laps, but fell to 13th after running off the road at Deene hairpin under the safety car, called for a first-lap tangle in the midfield.
The Dane pulled off some daring late-braking moves to recover to eighth on the road, ahead of Pye and T-Sport's Menasheh Idafar.
Sino Vision's Hywel Lloyd claimed the final point for 10th, after Buller was hit with a retrospective 60s penalty for not serving his drive-through.
Results - 23 laps:
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 30m37.904s
2. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW + 1.219s
3. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 2.412s
4. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 3.240s
5. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW + 13.216s
6. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW + 15.995s
7. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW + 22.660s
8. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc + 23.390s
9. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW + 25.025s
10. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc + 25.938s
11. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc + 26.495s
12. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW + 30.815s
13. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc + 30.961s
14. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc + 42.438s
15. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc + 1m22.175s
16. Luca Orlandi West-Tec Dallara-Mugen + 1 lap
Retirements:
Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 4 laps
Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 0 laps
Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 0 laps
Not classified:
Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 0 laps
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