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Webb claims maiden British F3 win

Oli Webb claimed his maiden British Formula 3 victory in the championship's first ever race at Magny-Cours this afternoon

The British Fortec racer took the lead when poleman Jean-Eric Vergne (Carlin) bogged down at the start and lost 15 places.

As the French home hero tumbled down the order, Webb streaked away from the field. A succession of early fastest laps broke the back of the race and Webb continued to eek his advantage out over most of the rest of the distance.

Webb controlled the race totally from the front. His lead ballooned to 6.7 seconds at one stage, before he backed it off slightly in the closing laps to complete a 5.9s victory over Gabriel Dias.

William Buller held an almost race-long watching brief behind his Hitech team-mate Dias, until a recovering Vergne began to hassle him in the last few laps. Vergne came close to passing (and hitting) his rival, but the Northern Irishman held on for his maiden podium in the series.

Vergne thus took fourth after a mighty recovery drive. The Red Bull-backed racer was helped by a tangle at the Adelaide hairpin on the first lap, which scattered the pack as Daniel McKenzie (Fortec) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Carlin) rotated.

He ran seventh at the end of the opening tour, but worked his way through steadily with some racey driving and robust passing moves. After dispatching Hywel Lloyd (who started 15th) for sixth on lap two, he took Raikkonen Robertson's Carlos Huertas for fifth a couple of laps later after a tussle through the Lycee complex.

After nerfing team-mate Jazeman Jaafar (who started 10th and was another to benfit from the first lap scrum) out of the way at Chateau D'Eau, Vergne erased a 5.8s gap to Buller, but could not find a way through.

Huertas took fifth, but looked vulnerable. He finished over seven seconds behind Vergne and only just held off Carlin's James Calado, who worked his way through to another top six finish after starting 11th.

Jaafar's tangle with Vergne dropped him to sixth and he ended up seventh once Calado had also come through at the Adelaide hairpin.

Carlin's Adriano Buzaid, Raikkonen Robertson's Daisuke Nakajima and Litespeed's Jay Bridger completed the top 10. All three benefited from Lloyd spinning away sixth before the final chicane just three laps from home.

T-Sport's Menasheh Idafar took National Class honours after re-passing team-mate James Cole during the second half of the race. The pair finished 11th and 12th overall.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car     Time/Gap
 1.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M   30m20.722s
 2.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V     + 5.955s
 3.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V     + 8.721s
 4.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V     + 9.127s
 5.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 16.813s
 6.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V    + 17.251s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V    + 24.184s
 8.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V    + 24.548s
 9.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 26.282s
10.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M    + 27.942s
11.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H    + 34.585s
12.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H    + 35.293s
13.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M    + 36.184s
14.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M    + 50.351s
15.  Max Snegirev          Fortec               D/M    + 55.401s
16.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M    + 59.752s
17.  Rio Haryanto          CF/Manor             D/M  + 1m15.713s
18.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V     + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  7 laps
     Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  0 laps
     Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  0 laps

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