Sato wins at Silverstone
Japanese sensation Takuma Sato completely dominated the final round of the British Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone on the Grand Prix circuit.
The Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen driver was 10.8 seconds up at the chequered flag, notching a clean sweep of all three F3 races at Silverstone this year and wrapping up third place in the championship behind Antonio Pizzonia and Tomas Scheckter.
Sato's only moment of anxiety came on the run down to Copse Corner. He made a better start than poleman Andy Priaulx, the Guernseyman squeezing his rival into the narrowest of gaps against the pit wall before giving best.
"Priaulx was coming across a bit," Sato said, "but I just had the confidence to go flat and I had my way. After the first corner it was just easy."
After getting past Narain Karthikeyan on the second lap, Priaulx's Promatecme team-mate Matt Davies looked a threat to oust his colleague from the runner-up spot. Then, on lap three, Priaulx ran wide out of Copse. Davies tried to go by at Becketts, but was inadvertently edged off the road by the sister yellow car. Karthikeyan had no option but to hit the spinning Davies, while fifth-placed Pizzonia also went off in avoidance.
Up to third came Scheckter. The South African put pressure on Priaulx throughout, but to his credit the ex-Renault Spider champ held on for second.
Andrew Kirkaldy spun out of fourth at Luffield after a suspected throttle jam. That allowed Ben Collins, who had stormed through from 13th on the grid, to take the place from Gianmaria Bruni and Westley Barber.
Pizzonia recovered to ninth behind Michael Bentwood and Martin O'Connell, the latter's defences proving impregnable to the Amazonian. Marcos Ambrose completed the points scorers, while Gary Paffett took his 14th win from 16 starts in the Scholarship Class.
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