Colbert and Carroll take Scholarship wins.

Stephen Colbert and Adam Carroll took a win each in the Scholarship Class of the Avon Tyres British F3 Championship supported by Octagon Motorsports at Knockhill, yesterday [Sunday].

Colbert's Meritus Racing Dallara Mugen Honda won race one after converting pole position into the race lead ahead of his team-mate Gavin Smith and championship leader Adam Carroll.

Smith had a spin on lap seven allowing Colbert to edge away from Carroll, but a safety car period bunched up the field once more. The interruption was a blessing for Clivio Piccione who had started at the rear of the field after an engine problem in qualifying and the Monegasque driver was sixth at the time of safety car's deployment.

On the re-start, Colbert led from Carroll's Sweeney Racing Dallara and Mohammed Fairuz, but fourth-placed Karun Chandhok spun at Clark Curve, the Indian driver furious at his error.

Colbert hung on to take his first F3 win from Carroll and an impressive Piccione who took third at the hairpin on lap 16 of 27, whilst Carroll's team-mate Billy Asaro recovered from stalling on the grid to finish sixth behind David Clark. After his spin, Gavin Smith was tenth.

Race two was sorted out at the end of lap one as Adam Carroll led out of the Hairpin. Behind him, the Meritus Racing team-mates Colbert and Smith ran side-by-side, Smith squeezing Colbert onto the grass and damaging his own nose cone and puncturing Colbert's tyre.

Stephen pitted soon after as the safety car came out to retrieve the cars of Reck jnr and Diego Romanini that had tangled on lap one. After a long safety car period, Carroll disappeared into the distance from Smith, struggling with his damaged car's aerodynamic deficiencies. Smith pitted on lap 15 as third placed Clivio Piccione spun into retirement at Clark Curve.

This flurry of drama left Carroll leading Jesper Carlsen and Mohammed Fairuz, but with two laps to run, the Renault engine in Carlsen's borrowed Dallara failed causing him to retire and allowing Karun Chandhok into the top three.

Race results - Scholarship class - race one - 27 laps:

1. Stephen Colbert Dallara-Mugen-Honda 22m 39.007s
2. Adam Carroll Dallara-Mugen-Honda +1.0s
3. Clivio Piccione Dallara-Mugen-Honda +3.9s
4. Mohammed Fairuz Dallara-Renault +8.1s
5. David Clark Dallara-Opel +11.5s
6. Billy Asaro Dallara-Mugen-Honda +12.4s

Race results - Scholarship class - race two - 28 laps:

1. Adam Carroll Dallara-Mugen-Honda 25m 12.268s
2. Mohammed Fairuz Dallara-Renault +11.9s
3. Karun Chandhok Dallara-Mugen-Honda +17.3s
4. Harold Primat Dallara-Mugen-Honda +23.7s
5. David Clark Dallara-Opel +26.5s
6. Justin Sherwood Dallara-Opel +30.3s