Hingeley Claims First British F3 Victory with Rockingham Race Three Win

Fortec Motorsports’ Ben Hingeley claimed his first ever BRDC British Formula 3 victory as he drove a controlled race to take the win in the third and final encounter of the weekend at Rockingham. Carlin’s James Pull put fresh tyres to good use to finish second whilst race two winner Cameron Das had to settle for third.

Having set the fastest lap from across the first two races of the meeting in Northamptonshire, Das started from pole position with Hingeley alongside him on the front-row. As the lights went out, the American made a good start and led through the first two turns. As the field approached the Deene hairpin, championship leader Enaam Ahmed tried to go around the outside of Pull for third but he ran out of road and had to take to the grass, rejoining at the back of the field.

Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery made a strong start and he made up three places on the opening lap to run in fifth, just behind Douglas Motorsport’s Callan O’Keeffe. On the next circuit, Double R Racing’s Harry Hayek made contact with Dane Nicolai Kjaergaard, with the Fortec Motorsports’ man ending up off the circuit at Chapman curve. Both drivers suffered suspension damage and retired from the race.

With Kjaergaard’s car in a dangerous position, the safety car was called for with Das leading from Hingeley and Pull. When the race got back underway, Das wasn’t able to break away from his rivals and he lost two positions in one corner as Hingeley dived down the inside at Deene hairpin to take the lead, whilst Pull went around the outside of his team-mate to claim second.

Toby Sowery fought his way past South African O’Keeffe to take fourth but after just one lap of green flag racing, the safety car was called for once more after Omar Ismail was turned around at Tarzan after contact with Manuel Maldonado. The Venezuelan was excluded from the results after the race for driving in a matter not compatible with safety.

At the restart, Hingeley defended his lead and was then able to eke out a small advantage from Pull and Das. As the race headed into its closing stages, the Fortec man drove a considered race and he saw out the final laps without trouble to claim his maiden BRDC British Formula 3 success. The Carlin duo of Pull and Das completed the top-three whilst the top-five was rounded out by Sowery and O’Keeffe. Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jeremy Wahome recorded an impressive sixth place finish as he held off Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Chase Owen and Carlin’s Enaam Ahmed, who recovered to eighth. The top-10 was completed by Brazilian Guilherme Samaia and Lanan Racing’s Aaron di Comberti.

Ben Hingeley made the most of a front-row start in race three at Rockingham to claim his first BRDC British Formula 3 success, passing race two winner Cameron Das for the lead halfway through the encounter. Das also lost out to the hard-charging James Pull who came home behind Hingeley in second. We spoke to all three drivers on the podium to get their thoughts on the final race of the meeting in Northamptonshire, and opinions on the Rockingham weekend as a whole.

Winner: Ben Hingeley, Fortec Motorsports: “It has been a difficult weekend even though I’ve had two good results. I had to battle really hard in the second race to get fourth and we went with a different strategy to most others by saving our tyres for the final race. It definitely paid off! I can’t thank the Fortec boys enough. You don’t see the work that goes in behind the scenes. Moving to Fortec for this year was 100 per cent the right choice and they’ve brought me on so much. Hopefully we can get many more wins this year. Hopefully it is the first win of many, that is the plan anyway!”

Runner-up: James Pull, Carlin: “It was a really great race. It was just so fun! Battling with these guys was amazing and these cars are just so much fun to race, especially around here as it is so different and so unique. Cameron drove a great race and obviously he was very fast so to be able to beat him is a really good feeling. We know where we need to improve. We had a tough start to the weekend with qualifying and then had a bad reverse grid race. I’ve got good racecraft though and I showed that so I just need to build on this and focus on the next one. Every single point counts so I’m just going to do my best and hopefully I can do well”

Third place: Cameron Das, Carlin: “We’ve closed the gap to Enaam in the championship standings quite a bit today so we are in a good situation as far as that goes. We had good pace all the way through the weekend, we made a couple of small mistakes which costs us the opportunity to get all three wins but it was a good weekend nonetheless.”

 

Rockingham

Grid – Race 3

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

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

3^rd – No. 27, Callan O’Keeffe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Results – Race 3

1^st – No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports, 14 laps, 20:01.945

2^nd – No. 15, James Pull, GBR, Carlin, Gap: 0.987

3^rd – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin, Gap: 1.788

4^th – No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing, Gap: 2.990

5^th – No. 27, Callan O’Keeffe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport, Gap: 3.449

6^th – No. 8, Jeremy Wahome, KEN, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 8.569

7^th – No. 21, Chase Owen, USA, Hillspeed, Gap: 8.799

8^th – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin, Gap: 9.211

9^th – No. 7, Guilherme Samaia, BRA, Double R Racing, Gap: 9.728

10^th – No. 55, Jamie Chadwick, GBR, Double R Racing, Gap: 11.114

11^th – No. 13, Aaron di Comberti, GBR, Lanan Racing, Gap: 20.632^

 

Not Classified

No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing, Lap 5

No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing, Gap: Lap 2

No. 63, Nicolai Kjaergaard, DEN, Fortec Motorsports, Lap 1

 

Excluded – Driving in a manner not compatible with safety

No. 33, Manuel Maldonado, VEN, Fortec Motorsports

 

Did Not Start

No. 25, Nick Worm, GER, Hillspeed

 

Fastest Lap

No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports, Lap 14, 1:15.744, 92.20 mph, 148.39 kph

 

^ Car 13 – 10 seconds added to race time for gaining an unfair advantage