Four From Four for Ahmed as he Storms to Rockingham Race One Victory

Championship leader Enaam Ahmed made it four wins from the first four races of the 2017 BRDC British Formula 3 season, as a barnstorming opening lap saw him charge from the second row to the lead and onwards to victory in race one of the weekend (29/30 April) at Rockingham.

Pole-sitter Cameron Das held the lead through the first two corners but lost out to Ahmed at turn three, and despite closing on his Carlin team-mate on occasions, had to settle for second. South African Callan O’Keeffe completed a strong performance to round out the podium in third.

Just as at Oulton Park, reigning US Formula 4 champion Das lined up on pole position for race one of the weekend but as the lights went out, it was his fellow front-row starter Omar Ismail who made the better getaway and he challenged for the lead into the turn two hairpin. Being on the outside would prove Ismail’s undoing however as he was pushed out of the line and dropped to fifth, whilst fourth place starter Ahmed had rocketed up to second, and switched back down the inside of Das on the run to turn three to take the lead.

Another fast starter was O’Keeffe, who jumped from fifth to third, just ahead of Fortec Motorsports’ Ben Hingeley who dropped one place to fourth. Carlin’s  James Pull meanwhile was making up for a disappointing qualifying session and he climbed three places on the opening lap to run in sixth, before dispatching Ismail in swift fashion to move up to fifth.

With all the frantic action across the first lap, Ahmed was able to open up a healthy lead approaching two seconds over the first two circuits. Das meanwhile was forced into fending off heavy pressure from O’Keeffe, who was determined to seize second from his rival. Further back, Dane Nicolai Kjaegaard pulled off a great move around the outside of Jamie Chadwick at the Deene hairpin to take seventh, putting her into the clutches of her Double R Racing team-mate Guilherme Samaia.

Das soon regrouped though and, with a succession of fastest laps, cut the lead down to just over half-a-second but Ahmed was able to respond as the race moved past its halfway mark and edge out the gap once more. Meanwhile, Jamie Chadwick was involved in a fierce battle with Samaia for the all important eighth place which gives pole position for race two, fending off a number of lunges from the Brazilian into the Deene hairpin.

As the race headed into its closing stages, Ahmed pushed his lead to over one second and after 14 laps, was greeted with the chequered flag to continue his perfect start to the 2017 season. Das came home second ahead of O’Keeffe in third with Hingeley fourth and Pull fifth.

Omar Ismail took sixth with Kjaergaard seventh and Chadwick holding off Samaia to claim eighth and pole position for race two at Rockingham tomorrow morning. Samaia was ninth and Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery completed the top-10.

The partially-reversed grid race two at Rockingham gets underway at 09:50 tomorrow with Jamie Chadwick on pole position. You can, as always, follow all the action through live timing and updates on the official British Formula 3 website.

Winner: Enaam Ahmed, Carlin: “I’ve known we’ve always had a good car around here. We took a bit of a risk in qualifying by waiting until the last five minutes of the session to set our quick times but the red flag came out and that didn’t help me. Without that, I think we should have been on the front-row at least. At the moment, I’m not focusing on the championship positions; I’m just trying to rack up as many points and wins as I can. We know we have very strong pace so we know we will be alright for the rest of the weekend from here. Even starting eighth, I know I am a good racer so I can race from there.”

Runner-up: Cameron Das, Carlin: “Second is definitely good for points. I overshot the second corner just a little bit and it seems like most people went to the outside. I made a good decision to go to the inside but Enaam managed to get me on the run to turn three. We’ve got good pace though so we are looking good for the rest of the races. The gap to Enaam was coming down on a number of occasions and I thought with one extra lap I might have been able to close him down a bit more. It will be busy starting seventh but I know that I’ve got good pace so we should be able to get around a lot of cars.”

Third place: Callan O’Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport: “We knew we had more potential in qualifying so it was a bit frustrating to only qualify P5 but we showed the pace we had in the race. We were closing on both Cameron and Enaam but it is really difficult once you get within a second to pass. I think we did the third quickest lap of the race so we are looking good if it rains tomorrow. We know where we need to improve the car and I know where I need to improve as a driver so we are pushing for that win in one of the two races tomorrow. I can’t say enough to what the team has done for me both over the winter and during the season. The team has done an amazing job at both Oulton, Rockingham and the interim to work out how we can improve. The car has a really good balance and I have so much confidence in it so we are on the up now, which is a testament to them and myself. We are gelling well as a unit and we are going to keep pushing to get a win.”