Winners call for changes

"It was a game," he said. "We couldn't go flat out hardly at all, even the decision to overtake or not was dominated by fuel strategy, which is frustrating for a driver. Of course it's always satisfying to win but we should have won the first two races of the season, so it's been a frustrating year to now."

Fellow podium winners Bruno Junquiera and Mario Dominguez echoed the winner's sentiments over the two mandatory pitstops under a 'green flag' situation - a rule that was put in place to prevent the narrow Brands pitlane filling up under yellows. As it was there were several near misses in the early sessions. In addition, all three appealed to series organisers to secure the full Grand Prix circuit next time around.

"It's such a great track from a driver's point of view but it would be better if we could change the fuel and pitstop rules for next year," said Junquiera, whose efforts earned him his third podium of the season and closed the gap to series leader, Paul Tracy, by half (11 points).

"Our race was dominated by fuel strategy, I think I only overtook two other guys out there on the track," he said. "The thing is there aren't enough good places for overtaking on the short circuit, it would be better if we could drive on the long one."

Rookie of the year in 2002, Mario Dominguez, confessed a lifelong wish to race at the historic circuit "I've always wanted to race here at Brands Hatch," said Dominguez. "It's a great track with a great history and to be here with Champ Cars and Herdez Racing is just amazing.

"The whole team has done a great job in developing the car. Everything is more serious in analysing things and preparing the car for races. Now we just have to keep up the momentum and keep it going for the rest of the year."