Aussie ace Daniel Ricciardo extended his Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series points lead this afternoon (Sun) with another race victory for the Carlin Motorsport team, his third from four starts. The 19-year-old from Perth started the second of the day's Silverstone rounds from second on the grid, shadowed his team-mate Max Chilton until three laps from the end, then swept past him for another Volkswagen-powered victory when Chilton struck gear selection problems.
"We stayed in formation for most of the race," said Daniel. "Max's first few laps were good and he pulled a gap. Then I started to feel a bit more comfortable with the car and I saw Max have a few problems, a bit of oversteer, and with a few laps to go I managed to get alongside him through the fast Maggotts/Becketts section and got the run on him down the straight."
A disheartened Chilton said: "I led from the pole after a great start. I had a good lead and I knew that Dan wouldn't have the pace to pass me... Then three laps from the end I tried going down through the gears and it just wouldn't, so I lost at least a second trying to get it to go in gear. Dan got a tow off me and did a good move and that was the end of the race to be honest." Max was voted Sunoco Driver of the Weekend for his efforts.
Chilton's Dallara appeared to recover quickly from its gearbox trouble, Max fighting manfully with Daniel, side-by-side along the Hangar Straight, before admitting defeat. Then, perhaps demotivated, he fell victim to an opportunistic move from Riki Christodoulou, who dived up Chilton's inside at Abbey two laps from the flag to snatch second from Chilton's grasp. It was Fortec driver Christodoulou's maiden podium finish, and it promotes him to championship third.
Silverstone race one victor Renger van der Zande held third place for the first 12 laps before being unseated by Christodoulou and then suffering a power loss which dropped him to 12th by the end. Daisuke Nakajima collected fourth spot, five seconds adrift of the winner.
Nick Tandy put in a typically gutsy drive for the JTR team, charging from 10th on the grid to fifth in his Mygale and smashing the hours-old circuit lap record as he went. He closed on to Nakajima's tail before losing pace in the latter stages.
Henry Arundel, Walter Grubmuller and Carlos Huertas held station for the duration to collect sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, with Oliver Oakes ninth, just ahead of Adriano Buzaid, the Brazilian losing ground after running sixth early on.
Buzaid's countryman and T-Sport team-mate Gabriel Dias pinched the National Class win on the final lap from the clutches of Dan McKenzie.
