COLLARD CALLS FOR F3 QUALIFYING REVAMP
BRDC British Formula 3 Championship leader Ricky Collard has urged organisers to re-evaluate their race two format.
Under the current system, the fastest lap for each driver during the second race, which is run to a reversed grid, determines their grid position for the final race of the weekend.
It has meant that many drivers have sacrificed actual racing in order to drop away from their opponents to find clean air and go for fast laps. Some drivers have even opted for pitlane starts for an optimum chance of pole.
Collard, who won two races last time out at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday and set pole for the final showdown, said the lure of pole for the finale is ruining the racing. “Fans come here to watch racing, they don’t come to see testing,” Collard said. “So for us to be out there aiming for pole, and some coming into the pits to get a better start isn’t right. I’m a racer and I want to be racing. I know my dad [Rob] had similar complaints in British Touring Cars a last year.”
The BTCC used a similar format last season, but it was ditched for this campaign amid complaints from teams. BRDC Formula 3’s Giles Butterfield said: “This is the first complaint we’ve had about the format. The good thing about the fastest lap system is that it gives drivers a chance to salvage something from a weekend that starts badly. In European F3 if you have a bad qualifying your weekend is finished, and we wanted to avoid that kind of scenario. “We’ll see how the format works for the rest of the year and if there’s a desire from the teams to change it for next year we’ll listen to suggestions.”