Svendsen-Cook claims maiden F3 win
Rupert Svendsen-Cook claimed his maiden British F3 victory from the series' first ever reverse-grid race at Oulton Park this morning
The British Carlin rookie drove with intelligence and maturity to take the win from the second row of the grid.
Raikkonen Robertson's Daisuke Nakajima led into the first turn after outdragging poleman Gabriel Dias at the start.
A damp but drying track made the going treacherous off-line, as Dias found to his cost when he tried to drive around the outside of Nakajima into Old Hall at the start of the second lap.
The Brazilian ran wide onto the grass, spun his Hitech Racing Dallara-Volkswagen and retired to the pits.
That left Svendsen-Cook in second and he immediately closed right onto the back of Nakajima's Dallara-Mercedes, before passing him with a switchback move at Old Hall as the Japanese tried to defend the inside line and ran wide on the exit.
From there the race was Svendsen-Cook's to lose, but he made no mistakes and crossed the line 0.658 seconds clear of Nakajima after 13 laps.
Nakajima's team-mate Carlos Huertas completed the podium a further 2.5s back, with Carlin trio Adriano Buzaid, Jean-Eric Vergne and Jazeman Jaafar rounding out the top six.
Vergne jumped race one runner-up Oli Webb on the first lap and seemed content to settle for what he had. The Frenchman cleverly dropped into space to set the race's fastest lap on the penultimate tour and claim two bonus points for the championship.
Daniel McKenzie led home Fortec team-mate Webb to take seventh, while Hitech's Will Buller and T-Sport's Alex Brundle rounded out the top 10.
Menasheh Idafar claimed his second consecutive National Class win, in 13th overall, while T-Sport team-mate and championship rival James Cole spun out at Hislops chicane midway through the race.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. R.Svendsen-Cook Dallara/Volkswagen 20:08.175 2. Daisuke Nakajima Dallara/Mercedes + 0.658 3. Carlos Huertas Dallara/Mercedes + 3.168 4. Adriano Buzaid Dallara/Volkswagen + 3.618 5. Jean-Eric Vergne Dallara/Volkswagen + 4.500 6. Jazeman Jaafar Dallara/Volkswagen + 7.417 7. Daniel McKenzie Dallara/Mercedes + 7.916 8. Oliver Webb Dallara/Mercedes + 8.240 9. William Buller Dallara/Volkswagen + 9.378 10. Alex Brundle Dallara/Volkswagen + 10.860 11. James Calado Dallara/Volkswagen + 11.006 12. Jay Bridger Dallara/Mercedes + 12.355 13. Menasheh Idafar Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 20.228 14. Luiz Felipe Nasr Dallara/Mercedes + 23.420 15. Lucas Foresti Dallara/Volkswagen + 23.975 16. Maxim Snegirev Dallara/Mercedes + 27.317 17. Adderly Fong Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 18. Hywel Lloyd Dallara/Mercedes + 3 Laps Retirements: Driver Car Laps Gabriel Dias Dallara/Volkswagen 6 James Cole Dallara/Mugen-Honda 4
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