Chilton heads the British F3 drivers

May 4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chilton heads the British F3 drivers seeking more points at Silverstone towards the

Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco

This weekend saw the competitors in the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series take to the track for their second meeting of the season, this time supporting the FIA GT Championship on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

It should have been an opportunity for them to make up lost ground in the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco, but such is the intensity of competition in the Series that it did not work out that way.

Max Chilton looked likely to be the driver to make a breakthrough after taking pole position for each of the two races on Saturday, but sadly he was unable to convert either of these into a race win on Sunday, although it was not for want of trying and he still grabbed 170 points from the weekend.

He lost the lead of race one off the start line and spent the next 18 laps in the wheel tracks of Dutch newcomer to the Series, Renger van der Zande, who finished 4th overall in the F3 EuroSeries last season. When the flag fell the two were separated by a mere 0.453s. Even worse for Chilton, his personal fastest lap was eclipsed by the Dutchman’s by the smallest margin possible - one-thousandth of a second – thus losing him the chance of 20 extra points towards the Challenge.

The highest-placed F3 driver in the Challenge, Daniel Ricciardo, had to recover from a lowly starting position after flying off track early in qualifying, but recovered from 11th on the grid to 5th. For race two he lined up right behind Chilton on the grid, who took the lead at the start and held it confidently for over 14 of the 18 laps, despite constant pressure from Daniel. But with the chequered flag almost in sight, Chilton started having gear selection problems and first Ricciardo swept past to take his third win from four races in the Series and then Riki Christodoulou took 2nd from Max. Despite that, Chilton moved up to 11th overall in the Challenge points standings, but Ricciardo dropped to 6th and the next F3 contender, Nick Tandy, to 14th. The full points table is here: http://www.aaoil.co.uk/assets/Rolex_24_challenge_standings_4th_mayl.pdf

The British GT competitors and Radical UK Cup competitors have their next outing at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend and Stuart Hall will be out to extend his lead in the Challenge.