Silverstone race 2: Sato's dozen

Sato got caught out at the start because the lowering sun reflected off the starting lights, allowing outside front row man Gianmaria Bruni to leap into the lead. But the Japanese pulled off a good move on the Italian at the Abbey hairpin on the first lap, Sato squeezing Bruni onto the inside line so that he ran wide coming out of the corner and forfeited the lead.

From then on Sato gradually pulled out an advantage, his only worry a sideways moment coming out of Luffield when he ran wide onto the grass during the middle of the race.

Meanwhile, Anthony Davidson completed the joy for the Carlin Motorsport team by passing Bruni for second on lap 15 into Abbey in a move he described as "one of my best ever".

"It's difficult for me to find words," gushed Sato. "I scored my first F3 win here and that was so good, and since then we've just gone step by step and completed smashed all the records. I cannot say how much I wanted to win for Carlin Motorsport, the fans and Diamond Racing, the team I started with."

Bruni did a good job to keep Davidson under pressure for the rest of the race but, despite running less wing, complained that his Renault-powered Fortec Dallara was unable to even catch a tow from the Mugen-engined car in front.

James Courtney was close to this duo for a while before his clutch broke, forcing the Australian to settle for fourth. He had Jaguar Racing team mate Andre Lotterer right behind early on, but the German ran wide at Copse on lap two and from then on fought with an overheating engine and a damaged floor.

Matt Davies and Derek Hayes (who confirmed his third place in the title chase from Courtney) rounded out the top six, while Rob Austin posted his best F3 drive to take seventh, holding off Lotterer. Andy Priaulx, winner of the first race, stalled on the green flag lap, was given a stop-go penalty for recovering to his grid position and then took off Kazuki Hoshino and put himself out.

Matt Gilmore romped home to the Scholarship Class race spoils, but third place was enough for Robbie Kerr to clinch the title. Kerr ran second early on before losing the position to Ernani Judice, then survived a last lap clash with Michael Keohane to wrap up Fred Goddard Racing's second successive title.


1 Takuma Sato (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 20 laps in 25m34.541s
2 Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +5.531s
3 Gianmaria Bruni (Fortec Dallara-Renault) +6.186s
4 James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) +13.103s
5 Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel) +17.812s
6 Derek Hayes (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +18.959s
7 Rob Austin (Menu Renaultsport Dallara-Renault) +21.181s
8 Andre Lotterer (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) +22.729s
9 Alex Gurney (Fortec Dallara-Renault) +23.055s
10 Ryan Dalziel (Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen) +28.145s
Sato 1m15.944s
1 Matt Gilmore (Performance Racing Dallara-Opel); 2 Ernani Judice; 3 Robbie Kerr; 4 Harold Primat; 5 Mark Mayall; 6 Aaron Scott.
Gilmore, 1m17.748s

1 Sato 355; 2 Davidson 273; 3 Hayes 234; 4 Courtney 227; 5 Bruni 156; 6 Priaulx 146; 7 Lotterer 141; 8 Davies 135; 9 Taylor 91; 10 Jouanny 65.
1 Kerr 335; 2 Gilmore 333; 3 Keohane 280; 4 Mayall 212; 5 Doornbos 182; 6 Judice 164.