Race 1: Courtney wins Silverstone thriller

"That wasn't too bad!" quipped Courtney. "I think everyone was getting a little excited with it being the first round of the season. The car was working really well. Once I got in front I pushed quite hard and then backed off when I'd got a gap."

The reigning British Formula Ford champion ran fourth in the early going, but picked his way through and showed blistering pace once he got to the front.

Polesitter Jamie Spence appeared to jump the start then miss a gear on the run to Copse, forcing Courtney to lift. That allowed a fast starting Paul Edwards to veer between the two of them and around the outside of Spence in a spectacular move at the first turn. The American banged wheels with Duma Racing's Spence down to Becketts before taking the advantage.

Takuma Sato got ahead of Courtney at the end of the first lap, then charged after Spence as Edwards pulled out an advantage. On the third lap the Japanese tried a move down the inside of the Abbey hairpin, but collided with Spence, spinning down the field and putting the latter out of the race.

As Sato got going down in seventh, Courtney inherited second. With a clear road to Edwards, he reeled in the Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen, which was suffering a severe lack of front-end grip. On the seventh lap, Courtney moved to the outside of Edwards on the approach to Abbey. Edwards overshot the apex, allowing Courtney to nip in front on the exit of the corner.

From then on, three successive fastest laps allowed Courtney to pull out an advantage that he extended to four seconds by the flag to win his debut F3 race.

Edwards, meanwhile, was in even further trouble. He soon conceded second place to team-mate Andy Priaulx, then lost third to Manor Motorsport's Derek Hayes, who had stormed through from ninth on the grid to become the second F3 rookie on the podium.

In fourth, Edwards was coming under pressure by the end from the Fortec Dallara-Renault of Gianmaria Bruni. The recovering Sato had passed his team mate Anthony Davidson but then clashed with Bruni as he tried to pass the Italian. This dropped him down to 12th. Behind Bruni at the finish was second race poleman Matt Davies, who put in a terrific drive from 13th on the grid to finish sixth.

In the Scholarship Class, pole man Adam Blair led in the early going before an off-course excursion at Becketts handed the win to Performance Racing team mate Matt Gilmore. Robbie Kerr, who set the fastest time in qualifying, was put to the back of the grid for fuel irregularities.



Silverstone, April 1, 16 laps

James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen), 16 laps, 20m38.613s
Andy Priaulx (Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen), +4.610s
Derek Hayes (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), +6.439s
Paul Edwards (Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen), +12.599s
Gianmaria Bruni (Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Renault), +12.979s
Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel), +13.603s
Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen), +14.558s
Nicolas Kiesa (RC Motorsport Dallara-Opel), +18.772s
Martin O'Connell (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel), +23.176s
Atsushi Katsumata (Promatecme UK Dallara-Mugen), +23.725s
Matt Gilmore (Performance Racing Dallara-Opel)
Courtney, 1m15.937s