Max Chilton collects the Sunoco Driver of the Day Award at Silverstone

Issued: 04 May 2009

Max Chilton collects the Sunoco Driver of the Day Award at Silverstone

After a weekend of high success and some disappointment, Max Chilton was the deserving winner of the Sunoco Driver of the Day Award yesterday, following the second round of the this year’s Cooper Tires British F3 International Series. The meeting was held on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone, supporting the opening round of the FIA GT Championship and the F3 drivers set a scorching pace around the 3.194 mile circuit.

Chilton dominated qualifying on Saturday, setting pole position for both races. His time of 1m 38.798s set in qualifying for race 1 was the fastest time ever recorded by an F3 car around the circuit.

Sadly, at the start of the race on Sunday Max was out-dragged off the line by the experienced Dutch newcomer to British F3, Renger van der Zande and, despite a fierce challenge over the entire 18 laps that was how the order remained, the pair separated by a mere 0.453s when the chequered flag was shown.

Max made no mistake at the start of race 2 and took the lead, which he held confidently from Carlin Motorsport team-mate and Series points leader, Daniel Ricciardo, for 14 laps, but then began to suffer a gearbox selection problem, which caused him first to lose the lead and then to drop to 3^rd place by the end of the race. It was a disappointing end to a meeting that had promised so much.

However, some consolation came at the end of the day, when Max was awarded the Sunoco Driver of the Day Award for his fighting display.