6th for Hayek as Contact Spoils Podium Hopes

Double R Racing encountered three challenging BRDC British Formula 3 Championship contests at Oulton Park International Circuit on Easter Monday, 17th April, with series rookie Harry Hayek taking the squad’s best finish of the weekend with sixth place in a rain-hit round one of the season.

Off the back of winning its first race of 2017 in British Formula 4 at Donington Park the day prior, the reigning British F3 champions did have a realistic chance of the podium during Oulton’s ‘triple header’ on Monday but Australian Hayek was knocked out of contention at the first corner in round two.

Former British GT4 Champion Jamie Chadwick, likewise making her F3 debut and also embarking on her maiden season in single-seaters, experienced more than her share of misfortune in Cheshire but only just missed out on the top 10 in race one with a weekend best of 11th place.

The opening contest was also the best of the event for Brazil’s Guilherme Samaia, taking 13th place, and like his team-mate Chadwick the South American was unable to build on a consistent opening to the event as a result of luckless non-finishes in rounds two and three.

“It’s been a tough first weekend of the F3 season for us but we’ll definitely bounce back stronger at Rockingham”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “Race one went quite well, Harry in P6, Jamie almost making the top 10 and Guilherme not far behind either – good strong points. Harry was on for the podium in race two when he was turned around at the first corner, though, and after that everything went a bit downhill for us. We just had no luck at all, got caught-up in some incidents and so it was a more challenging weekend than it should’ve been in the end.”

Hayek, as he was during testing, was the fastest of the Double R competitors in his maiden British F3 qualifying session on Saturday, 15th April, with the sixth quickest time, just 0.2 seconds shy of the front row of the grid.

British GT convert Chadwick was an excellent ninth on her debut in an incredibly tightly bunched midfield, just 0.3 seconds covering ninth to 14th position, while eleventh hour signing Samaia was 13th fastest – after having his best lap disallowed as a result of a track limits infringement.

Due to unfortunate damage to the circuit barriers during one of the support races on Saturday afternoon, though, the first F3 race of the season was pushed back to the beginning of a rescheduled timetable for Easter Monday’s programme – meaning three fast-paced races in one bumper day.

Race one was wet and Hayek made a good start to retain his top six placing, where he remained for the entirety of the 11-lap contest. With little in the way of position changes outside the top three, Hayek made a solid start to his maiden British F3 campaign.
Chadwick unfortunately slipped down to 13th place on the opening tour but she climbed back into the top 12 at the expense of team-mate Samaia the next time around. Running very close behind Tristan Charpentier, Chadwick stayed within just half a second of her rival for the bulk of the race but following a late problem for Jeremy Wahome she moved into 11th place on the penultimate tour.

Samaia climbed into the top 12 initially but after slipping back to 14th position on lap two, the order settled and he ran in the close train of cars behind Charpentier and Chadwick. Into the second half of the race, Samaia was just 0.3 seconds behind Nicolai Kjaergaard but there was no way through. As a result of Wahome’s drop down the order on lap 10, though, Samaia finished 13th.

Round two didn’t start at all well for Double R when Hayek, who lined-up third on the grid, was knocked into retirement at the first corner after being tagged and team-mate Chadwick was also caught-up in the ensuing drama. Unsurprisingly, red flags were shown after the initial Safety Car.

Hayek wasn’t able to take the re-start but Chadwick did eventually make it back to the pits to start from the pitlane. Samaia, meanwhile, progressed smartly through the incident to climb from 13th into seventh before the race stoppage.

When the action resumed, over only four laps, Samaia managed to climb as high as sixth but on the penultimate tour his involvement came to an end with an incident at Shell Oils. Chadwick went on to post a 13th place finish but was later removed from the classification, having received assistance prior to the re-start.

In round three, Hayek concluded his first weekend in the championship with a top 10 finish after progressing well from 14th on the grid. Frustratingly for his two team-mates, though, their race ended on lap two when trying to miss the spinning Wahome at Shell Oils. As Chadwick went one way, Samaia the other, neither were able to avoid getting caught-up in the incident.

Next up for Double R Racing will be the second event of the BRDC British F3 season, rounds four, five and six, over the weekend 29th/30th April at Rockingham in Northamptonshire. The team’s British F4 squad will be back in action one week later, 6th/7th May, at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire for rounds seven, eight and nine of the championship.