Ahmed Doubles up After Frantic Race Two at Oulton Park

Enaam Ahmed took advantage of a hectic second race at Oulton Park to add to his race one British F3 win earlier in the day, charging from eighth to first to claim victory. An opening lap accident forced a red flagged and, with a number of cars eliminated and unable to take the restart, Fortec Motorsports’ Ben Hingeley took second ahead of Callan O’Keeffe in third.

After finishing eighth in race one, Chris Dittmann Racing’s Omar Ismail lined up on pole position for the partially reversed grid race two and as the lights went out, he led the field into Old Hall Corner. Just behind though there was plenty of drama, with Harry Hayek spinning as a result of contact with Toby Sowery. The Double R Racing man was left stranded on the exit of the corner and Douglas Motorsport’s Petru Florescu had nowhere to go making contact, ending both their races on the spot. Jamie Chadwick was also involved but managed to recover to the pit lane. She was later excluded from the results for gaining outside help however.

Sowery made it to Cascades but after suffering heavy damage, ended up in the gravel to end his race prematurely. With a number of cars littering the circuit the safety car was deployed, with Ismail then spinning and losing the lead to O’Keeffe, with Ahmed and Hingeley both following the South African through. With Hayek and Florescu’s cars locked together, the race was subsequently red flagged and a restarted race length of four laps announced. Once the wreckage had been cleared, the British F3 field formed up once more but this time with O’Keeffe on pole position.

As the lights went out, O’Keeffe lit up his rear tyres enabling Ahmed to take the lead and Hingeley to move into second. Ahmed soon set about opening up a gap whilst Hingeley defended from both O’Keeffe and Carlin’s James Pull. Despite attempting to pass the Fortec man on numerous occasions, O’Keeffe couldn’t quite pull off the move no matter how hard he tried.

Ahmed saw out the handful of remaining laps without incident to claim his second win of the day at Oulton Park, and maintain his perfect start to the 2017 season. Hingeley held on for second with O’Keeffe third, Pull fourth and Nicolai Kjaergaard fifth. Cameron Das, who suffered an off on the warm-up lap and started from the pit lane, recovered to sixth ahead of Manuel Maldonado and Chase Owen. Tristan Charpentier was ninth with Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Nick Worm rounding out the top-10.

Winner: Enaam Ahmed, Carlin: “I feel really good. The guys at Carlin gave me a really good car, we were really switched on. My boys Matt, Luke, Mark got the tyres set up perfectly so I had plenty of confidence off the line. It was a tremendous race. It was a hectic turn one and I was lucky to get out of that unscathed. I was lucky that we restarted as if we had had a rolling start after the safety car, I’m not sure I would have been able to get past Callan O’Keeffe. I don’t want to count my chickens before race three but let’s see what happens. All my focus is going to be on the start.”

Runner-up: Ben Hingeley, Fortec Motorsports: “It was a really good race. I struggled a bit as I was quite involved in the incident at the first corner, so I am not sure if I damaged a front-wing endplate or a front-wheel but I was struggling to turn right through the first corner and Druids which isn’t ideal. P2 though, I couldn’t be more happy. It has put us slightly on the back foot for the final race, as I am starting seventh, but I’ve got more points and that is all that matters.”

Third-place: Callan O’Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport: “I am a bit disappointed. I think we could have done a better job than what we did. I got a terrible start off the line. I am obviously disappointed as I think we had the speed at least to match Enaam Ahmed. Being out of racing last year and this being my first podium back, it does feel good in a way but at the same time, it is a weird emotion. We qualified 12th on Saturday and we’ve managed to get a podium out of it so hopefully we can keep building on it as this has been a recovery weekend. Big thanks to the Douglas Motorsport boys for putting in the hours.”

 

Round 2 – Grid

1^st – No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing

2^nd – No. 27, Callan O’Keefe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport

3^rd – No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing

4^th – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin

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

6^th – No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing

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

8^th – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Round 2 – Results

1^st – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin, 4 laps, 6:32.071

2^nd – No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports, Gap: 7.749

3^rd – No. 27, Callan O’Keefe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport, Gap: 8.119

4^th – No. 15, James Pull, GBR, Carlin, Gap: 8.234

5^th – No. 63, Nicolai Kjaergaard, DEN, Fortec Motorsports, Gap: 11.067

6^th – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin, Gap: 11.794

7^th – No. 33, Manuel Maldonado, VEN, Fortec Motorsports, Gap: 22.804

8^th – No. 21, Chase Owen, USA, Hillspeed, Gap: 22.901

9^th – No. 6, Tristan Charpentier, FRA, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 24.252

10^th – No. 25, Nick Worm, GER, Hillspeed, Gap: 25.557

11^th – No. 8, Jeremy Wahome, KEN, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 30.174

12^th – No. 13, Aaron di Comberti, GBR, Lanan Racing, Gap: 31.520

13^th – No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 40.742

 

Did Not Finish

No. 7, Guilherme Samaia, BRA, Double R Racing

 

Excluded

No. 55, Jamie Chadwick, GBR, Double R Racing^

 

Did Not Start

No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing

No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing

No. 10, Petru Florescu, ROM, Douglas Motorsport

 

^ Excluded from race results, MSA regulation 5.4.2

 

Fastest Lap

No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin, Lap 4, 1:41.505, 95.47 mph, 153.65 kph