Kovalainen wins on count-back.
Heikki Kovalainen scored a dramatic victory at Oulton Park in round 19 of the Avon Tyres British F3 Championship on Sunday afternoon. In a race interrupted by a safety car period and then a rain storm, Kovalainen was ahead when the race result was declared after nine laps, as the increasingly wet track made conditions too treacherous to continue.
Heikki Kovalainen scored a dramatic victory at Oulton Park in round 19 of the Avon Tyres British F3 Championship on Sunday afternoon. In a race interrupted by a safety car period and then a rain storm, Kovalainen was ahead when the race result was declared after nine laps, as the increasingly wet track made conditions too treacherous to continue.
Behind the Finn was his Fortec Motorsport team-mate Fabio Carbone, whilst Mark Taylor was third. Taylor had in fact taken the lead on the next lap after the two leaders spun off, but was dropped back to third when results were taken at the end of lap nine. "The car was aquaplaning all the time," said Kovalainen, after his first win in the championship. "As the first car in the queue it was quite difficult to predict the conditions," said the Finn.
The celebrations at Fortec Motorsport were completed by Carbone's second place. Despite both cars spinning off the track on lap 10, the red flag gave the team a one-two. "Third is still good," said a philosophical Taylor. "At least I was leading when it was red-flagged, and it was good fun!"
James Courtney recovered from over-shooting the chicane at Knickerbrook to take fourth from Carlin Motorsport team-mate Alan Van Der Merwe. Title contender Robbie Kerr battled through to seventh after starting 11th on the grid.
As the rain worsened, several drivers made pit stops for treaded tyres, notably Promatecme duo Matthew Gilmore and Bruce Jouanny, as well as Richard Antinucci. Had the race gone full distance, they would have romped up the order but at the end of nine laps Antinucci was best placed of them in tenth.
In the Scholarship class, Clivio Piccione survived the drama to win from Billy Asaro, even though Asaro spun off on the lap on which the race was halted.
"I couldn't see five feet in front of me," said Asaro of the worsening conditions. "Up into Druids on the tenth lap my car just started spinning and I touched the guardrail on both sides of the track," he said of the lap on which the race was stopped.
"It was just one of those races where you needed to keep your head," said Colbert, neatly summing up round 19.
