Frederick flies to another win in British F3
DONINGTON PARK BRSCC 15-16 AUGUST
Kaylen Frederick extended his points lead in the BRDC British F3 Championship with an assertive performance at Donington
Park in mixed conditions, while Brit Louis Foster secured his maiden win in the series.
With two victories to his name from the opening round at Oulton Park, Frederick carried on his impressive form by taking pole for the opening contest at Donington, and for half the opening lap it looked like being another masterclass from the Carlin-run American. But, exiting the Fogarty Esses, he ran wide across the grass and dropped behind fellow front-row starter Foster (Double R Racing) and Hitech GP duo Reece Ushijima and Kush Maini.
On the following lap, Nico Varrone found more than just grass on the exit of the Esses and the safety car was called to retrieve the stricken Chris Dittmann Racing entry.
While the front trio maintained station at the restart, championship leader
Frederick began to lose positions due to a failing actuator, which meant changing up and down gears was becoming more difficult and unpredictable. He fell to sixth when he ran wide at the Melbourne Hairpin, dropped to seventh on the following tour due to the same error, and by the penultimate lap he was eighth.
On the final lap, Frederick was sent into the barriers at Coppice as he suffered a throttle blip when downshifting. Crucially, however, the race had run for a lap longer than scheduled (see News), meaning the final result was taken from the lap before. Not only did it mean he kept 13 valuable points for an eighth-place finish, but he would start 11th instead of 18th for the full reversed-grid-second race.
Up front, Foster took his maiden win in the series ahead of Ushijima and Maini.
While Saturday’s action had been in the dry, rain tyres were needed on Sunday. Douglas Motorsport driver Ulysse de Pauw led from pole in the reversed-grid race, while Carter Williams and then Oliver Clarke held second before Frederick carved his way through into the spot by lap seven.
The gap to de Pauw stood at 8.9s with five laps remaining, and Frederick whittled the margin down to just over two seconds by the flag as the Belgian took his first series win and Hillspeed driver Clarke claimed third for his maiden F3 podium.
Frederick’s performance in the wet was an ominous sign for race three, where he would start third, behind Maini and Foster. After getting the jump on Foster off the line in drier but still damp conditions, Frederick showed why he is the driver to beat this year with a superb pass around the outside of Maini at Goddards on lap four.
As Frederick cantered to his third win of the season, there was a sensational scrap for second led by Maini, Josh Skelton, Kiern Jewiss and Foster.
For several laps each attacked and defended while sliding around trying to find grip, never more than inches apart in one of the best multi-car British F3 battles since the series was launched in 2016. Skelton managed to pip Maini on
the line by just 0.101s, as Varrone finished an incredible fourth after a charge from 14th on the grid, ahead of Jewiss and Foster.
Frederick heads to the Brands Hatch round next week with a 29-point gap over Maini, who has to yet to confirm whether he will contest the remaining races.
Tom Golding and Giles Dawson continued their titanic battle for the Ginetta G40 Cup title, with each winning again.
Dawson won from polesitter Golding in the opening race after resisting his rival throughout following a lengthy safety-car period. In the second race – held in wet conditions – it was Dawson who had to do the chasing, and he only grabbed the lead through the final turns to win by just 0.046s.
The third race proved to be even more dramatic. As the title protagonists pulled further ahead of the chasing pack, the rain intensified, Golding running wide and losing the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin on lap eight. Moments later it was Dawson’s turn to lose the initiative as he spun off down the Craner Curves when lapping a backmarker. He wasn’t the only one to end up in the gravel, as several stranded cars brought out the red flags.
The result was therefore pushed back to the end of lap seven and, because Dawson had been the cause of the red flag, he was not classified, costing him crucial points.