American Cameron Das Stars to Claim Opening Pole Position of 2017

Reigning US Formula 4 Champion Cameron Das made the step-up to British Formula 3 with aplomb as he secured the opening pole position of the 2017 season at Oulton Park on Saturday morning. He finished the 30-minute session at the head of the timing screens, lapping a quarter of a second quicker than Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery, with Das’ Carlin team-mate Enaam Ahmed completing the top-three.

After Friday’s continual showers, the sun made an appearance on Saturday morning at the picturesque and undulating Cheshire track. As the pit lane opened, a number of drivers, including the Carlin duo of Das and Ahmed, chose to remain on the pit apron to find clear track and save their Pirelli P-Zero tyres.

Toby Sowery meanwhile took to the circuit immediately and began setting overall best sectors as he set the pace at the midway point with a lap time of 1m30.954s. Ben Hingeley was second quickest at that stage for Fortec  Motorsports whilst James Pull appeared in third.

A number of drivers chose to switch onto new Pirelli tyres after some initial running, including Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jeremy Wahome and the Double R Racing drivers of Guilherme Samaia and Harry Hayek. Out on track, Enaam Ahmed was making the most of his delayed running and he moved ahead of Sowery with a 1m30.711s. Sowery, a five-time race winner in British F3 last year, struck back immediately however and lowered the benchmark by 0.026s to reclaim provisional pole position.

He wouldn’t remain at the head of the field for long though as 17-year-old Das lapped the 2.69-mile layout just 0.005s slower than Sowery, but subsequently went 0.228s quicker than the rest of the field with a 1m30.457s to top the timing screens.

With five minutes remaining, the drivers regrouped and aimed to improve their times but yellow flags in sector two hindered progress, with Aaron di Comberti, Manuel Maldonado and Nicolai Kjaergaard all coming to grief in separate incidents. No improvements were forthcoming and as the chequered flag flew, it was Das who claimed the opening pole position of the 2017 BRDC British F3 season, ahead of Sowery, Ahmed and Hingeley.

Fifth place went to James Pull with Harry Hayek sixth and Omar Ismail seventh. Petru Florescu finished eighth quickest for Douglas Motorsport with Jamie Chadwick ninth and Jeremy Wahome rounding out the top-10.

Race one of the weekend gets underway at 15:45 and you can follow all the action through live timing and updates on the official British F3 website.

Pole position: Cameron Das, Carlin: “It feels really good to take pole position. We got out there with 12 or 13 minutes to go and got a lap in as quickly as possible. It turned out to be a really good one! Looking at my sectors from yesterday, I definitely had all the time there, I just had to put it together in one lap. In qualifying, we were able to do that more than once so I’m feeling really good ahead of the race. I am just going to focus on my launch (at the start) and obviously I have to keep an eye on the cars behind. I don’t want to have to look in my mirrors to much so I am going to put in some quick laps at the start and we will see where it goes from there.”
Second place: Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing: “It was positive. The best qualifying we had all of last year was fourth position. To come away in P2 for the first race of the weekend is really good. It was a shame to get pipped right at the end as we were P1 for most of the session but it is still a front-row. I don’t think I had the pace at the end to match Cameron. If we had used a new set of tyres then maybe we could have matched him but I don’t think we had the ultimate pace on the set of tyres we were on. The goal heading into the race is just to win. We know if the start isn’t that good then it will be a very tough challenge but I think if we do, I don’t think getting the win will be a problem.”

Third place: Enaam Ahmed, Carlin: “I think qualifying went well as we were immediately on the pace during my first push lap. The problem was that I had people coming out of the pits ahead of me and then the tyres started dropping off so I wasn’t able to do a quicker time. I know the pace is there so let’s see how the race goes. It’s maximum attack.”

 

Qualifying 1 – Classification

1^st – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin, 1:30.457

2^nd – No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing, 1:30.685

3^rd – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin, 1:30.711

4^th – No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports, 1:30.738

5^th – No. 15, James Pull, GBR, Carlin, 1:30.892

6^th – No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing, 1:30.905

7^th – No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing, 1:31.255

8^th – No. 10, Petru Florescu, ROM, Douglas Motorsport, 1:31.321

9^th – No. 55, Jamie Chadwick, GBR, Double R Racing, 1:31.361

10^th – No. 8, Jeremy Wahome, KEN, Chris Dittmann Racing, 1:31.4481

11^th – No. 63, Nicolai Kjaergaard, DEN, Fortec Motorsports, 1:31.507

12^th – No. 27, Callan O’Keefe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport, 1:31.560

13^th – No. 7, Guilherme Samaia, BRA, Double R Racing, 1:31.582^

14^th – No. 21, Chase Owen, USA, Hillspeed, 1:31.669

15^th – No. 13, Aaron di Comberti, GBR, Lanan Racing, 1:31.928

16^th – No. 6, Tristan Charpentier, FRA, Chris Dittmann Racing, 1:33.085

17^th – No. 25, Nick Worm, GER, Hillspeed, 1:33.198

18^th – No. 33, Manuel Maldonado, VEN, Fortec Motorsports, 1:34.571

 

^Car 7 – 1 time disallowed, exceeding track limits

 

Round 1 – Grid

1^st – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin

2^nd – No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing

3^rd – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin

4^th – No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports

5^th – No. 15, James Pull, GBR, Carlin

6^th – No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing

7^th – No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing

8^th – No. 10, Petru Florescu, ROM, Douglas Motorsport

9^th – No. 55, Jamie Chadwick, GBR, Double R Racing

10^th – No. 8, Jeremy Wahome, KEN, Chris Dittmann Racing

11^th – No. 63, Nicolai Kjaergaard, DEN, Fortec Motorsports

12^th – No. 27, Callan O’Keefe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport

13^th – No. 7, Guilherme Samaia, BRA, Double R Racing

14^th – No. 21, Chase Owen, USA, Hillspeed

15^th – No. 13, Aaron di Comberti, GBR, Lanan Racing

16^th – No. 6, Tristan Charpentier, FRA, Chris Dittmann Racing

17^th – No. 25, Nick Worm, GER, Hillspeed

18^th – No. 33, Manuel Maldonado, VEN, Fortec Motorsports