Das Charges to Maiden British F3 Victory in Rockingham Race Two
American Cameron Das stormed to victory in the second race of the weekend at Rockingham, as the Carlin man charged through the field from seventh on the grid to claim his maiden success in BRDC British Formula 3. Chris Dittmann Racing’s Omar Ismail produced a strong performance to take the runner-up spot whilst Double R Racing’s Jamie Chadwick claimed her first podium in the UK’s premier single-seater category by finishing third.
Sunshine and clear skies greeted the BRDC British Formula 3 field as they returned to the Northamptonshire circuit for race two of the meeting. By virtue of her eighth place finish in race one on Saturday, former British GT GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick lined up on pole position with Dane Nicolai Kjaergaard alongside on the front-row.
As the lights went out, Omar Ismail made a brilliant getaway from third to take the lead through the first corner whilst Chadwick was forced into defending second from Carlin’s James Pull. At the Deene hairpin, Chadwick clipped Pull which result in him being turned around and collecting Kjaergaard. Pull retired with damage from the accident whilst Kjaergaard managed to limp back to the pits, with Chadwick continuing in second. Race one winner Ahmed was unlucky to get caught on the outside of the incident and he dropped to the back of the field after being forced into taking evasive action. After the race, Chadwick was handed a five-place grid penalty for her part in the incident.
The main beneficiary of that drama was reigning US Formula 4 champion Das who made up four positions from his grid spot to run in third after the first two corners. Fortec Motorsports Ben Hingeley slotted into fourth, with Callan O’Keeffe fifth and Brazilian racer Guilherme Samaia in sixth.
Das wasted little time in continuing his forward progress as he pulled off a superb move around the outside of Chadwick to take second at the Deene hairpin. The American soon closed on the leader Ismail and this time jinked to the inside at the hairpin to slide past the Chris Dittmann Racing man to take the lead.
Further back, Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery disposed of Samaia to take sixth position whilst up front, Das extended his lead to over two seconds as the race passed the halfway mark.
The action at the head of the pack settled into a rhythm with Das comfortable in the lead, as Ismail ran second and Chadwick third. Harry Hayek made a move on his Double R team-mate Samaia to claim seventh whilst just ahead, Callan O’Keeffe and Toby Sowery became involved in a brilliant battle for fifth.
Five-time British F3 race winner Sowery closed on the South African and with three laps to go, moved to the outside of the Douglas Motorsport man at the Deene hairpin. O’Keeffe fended off the initial move but Sowery wouldn’t give up, and the pair managed to run side-by-side for almost half of the lap. O’Keeffe eventually managed to get his nose back in front and Sowery was forced to slot in behind his rival with Hayek and Samaia closing on the battling duo.
Das meanwhile saw out the closing stages of the race without incident to claim his first win in British Formula 3, with Ismail taking second and Chadwick coming home third. Hingeley finished fourth whilst O’Keeffe managed to resist Sowery to take fifth, with Hayek seventh and Samaia coming home eighth on the road. However, the Brazilian received a five-second time penalty for track limits infringements and that promoted Ahmed up the order, who recovered from his first lap off to score a decent haul of points.
The top-10 was completed by Lanan Racing’s Aaron di Comberti and Fortec Motorsports’ Manuel Maldonado.
By setting the fastest lap from the first two races of the weekend, race two winner Das will start on pole position for race three, which gets underway at 16:30, with Ben Hingeley for company on the front-row.
We spoke to all three drivers to get their thoughts on the race and also got their opinions ahead of the third and final contest of the weekend in Northamptonshire.
Winner: Cameron Das, Carlin: “I avoided some contact at the first corner and made a good decision to go to the inside. From there, I was just battling with Jamie and Omar for the first couple of laps. After that, I was just managing my tyres and making sure I maintained the gap at the front. I think I managed to look after my tyres pretty well so we should be in good shape for race three starting from pole position. We haven’t had a wet race yet so we have been using our dry tyres more than we usually would. It is definitely important to keep them fresh. Enaam has a big lead in the championship but I’m glad we could close it a little bit with this win.”
Runner-up: Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing: “I’m a little frustrated to miss out on the win. I got a mega start but I struggled a bit with tyre grip during the middle part of the race and I knew that Cameron had been quick all weekend so I think the right idea was just to let him through and then try and get a good lap for race three. It is a points game at the end of the day and that’s what I’m here for. I know the win will come later, it just wasn’t the time in this race.”
Third place: Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing: “Overall I’m really happy. Obviously starting on pole position you want to get the most out of it, you want to make a good start and get away. Unfortunately I didn’t get the best of starts and lost a place to Omar and then I got caught in a bit of a melee at turn two. I managed to keep P2 but lost a place to Cameron a little bit later on. I managed to consolidate P3 from there though. We were a bit flattered by the fact that we got the pole position from the reverse grid and I want to get on pole from outright qualifying. I will take it though and it is a great reward for the team and all of us who have been working hard over the winter.”
Rockingham
Results – Race 2
1st – No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin, 14 laps, 17:42.861
2nd – No. 4, Omar Ismail, GBR, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 6.436
3rd – No. 55, Jamie Chadwick, GBR, Double R Racing, Gap: 7.627
4th – No. 77, Ben Hingeley, GBR, Fortec Motorsports, Gap: 8.139
5th – No. 27, Callan O’Keeffe, RSA, Douglas Motorsport, Gap: 15.759
6th – No. 51, Toby Sowery, GBR, Lanan Racing, Gap: 16.207
7th – No. 26, Harry Hayek, AUS, Double R Racing, Gap: 16.505
8th – No. 65, Enaam Ahmed, GBR, Carlin, Gap: 17.906
9th – No. 13, Aaron di Comberti, GBR, Lanan Racing, Gap: 18.546
10th – No. 33, Manuel Maldonado, VEN, Fortec Motorsports, Gap: 19.365
11th – No. 21, Chase Owen, USA, Hillspeed, Gap: 20.545
12th – No. 7, Guilherme Samaia, BRA, Double R Racing, Gap: 21.714^
13th – No. 25, Nick Worm, GER, Hillspeed, Gap: 26.163
14th – No. 8, Jeremy Wahome, KEN, Chris Dittmann Racing, Gap: 32.605^ ^^
Not Classified
No. 15, James Pull, GBR, Carlin, Lap 10
No. 63, Nicolai Kjaergaard, DEN, Fortec Motorsports, Lap 0
Fastest Lap
No. 28, Cameron Das, USA, Carlin, Lap 5, 1:14.659, 93.54 mph, 150.54 kph
^ Cars 7 and 8 – 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits
^ Car 8 – 10 second penalty for exceeding track limits
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