Lucas Foresti sent out a clear message to the rest of the British Formula 3 field at Oulton Park on Saturday, as the Brazilian comfortably led home fellow countryman Felipe Nasr by almost 20 seconds to claim victory in Race 1. Jazeman Jaafar completed the podium, after an early mistake from Menasheh Idafar saw the Bahraini driver crash out of second place.
Foresti got a clean getaway from his pole position grid slot as the lights went out, while Nasr behind struggled to find enough traction and as a result he dropped back to third at the end of the first lap. The Brazilian could have fallen even further down the order, although a brave line around the outside of Jaafar at Cascades allowed him to hold onto third.
The rest of the field saw little change during the opening stages, and the top three drivers began to pull away from the train of cars building behind Colombia’s Carlos Huertas. The biggest battle of the first few laps was seen in the Rookie Class between Kotaro Sakurai and Bart Hylkema. After an intense few laps of battle, Hylkema was able to find a way past the Japanese driver who had been giving his all to hold onto the position.
There was drama to follow for second place man Menasheh Idafar, as a critical error saw him run off the circuit at the first corner, ending his race prematurely. Foresti was therefore given even more breathing space up front, with championship leader Nasr now into second. Jaafar behind did his best to put pressure on Nasr, but ultimately to no avail.
Foresti was able to lengthen his advantage even further before he crossed the line on the 21st and final lap to take a well earned maiden British Formula 3 victory. Nasr was a distant second, while Jaafar closed in slightly during the final few laps to finish under two seconds adrift of his Carlin team-mate. Carlos Huertas managed to hold off the attentions of the train behind, and he secured fourth at the wheel of his Carlin machine.
Pietro Fantin was next up ahead Fortec's Harry Tincknell, with Riki Christodoulou just over 2.5 seconds adrift. Kevin Magnussen crossed the line in eighth, finishing the race in the same position he started after his qualifying mistake. Australia's Scott Pye was able to secure two points in ninth, while Rupert Svendsen-Cook completed the top ten.
Britain’s Jack Harvey finished just outside of the top ten, although he revealed to GPUpdate.net prior to the race that starting further back at such a narrow circuit was always going to make it much more difficult to make progress: "I think a lot of the emphasis is going to be put on the opening laps. Because if you get to half way, where you are on track - without someone going off - is where you’re going to finish. So I think our weekend is going to be a bit hard now really."
Monday’s Race 2 begins at 10am local time (BST)
Series
British F3
Personalities
Lucas Foresti
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Fortec Motorsports
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Foresti | Fortec | 31:19.106 |
| 2. | F. Nasr | Carlin | +18.362 |
| 3. | J. Jaafar | Carlin | +20.043 |
| 4. | C. Huertas | Carlin | +24.677 |
| 5. | P. Fantin | Hitech | +25.839 |
| 6. | H. Tincknell | Fortec | +27.110 |
| 7. | R. Christodoulou | Hitech | +29.882 |
| 8. | K. Magnussen | Carlin | +30.644 |
| 9. | S. Pye | Double R | +31.168 |
| 10. | R. Svendsen-Cook | Carlin | +34.275 |
| Full results | |||
| Lucas Foresti | |||
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| More Lucas Foresti photos | |||
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