After a consistent and well measured weekend, it was Enaam Ahmed who left the BRDC British F3 weekend on top, collecting 81 points. He finished on the podium for every round, collecting a vital win in the final race at Snetterton.
The result means that he sits 7 points in front of second place Lando Norris, winner of race one. Moreover, Norris has announced that he’ll not be competing in a full year of F3, meaning that his nearest full time challenger is Toby Sowery.
Sowery himself started on pole for the final race but was unable to hold off the fast starting Ahmed into the first turn. The Lanan Racing driver kept to within a few seconds of the leader throughout the race, pressuring the MSA Formula rookie champion, but despite this, Ahmed was able to hold on for a memorable win.
The win was also Douglas Motorsports first F3 silverware, as the team left the weekend as it finished the Autumn Trophy. Ahmed himself will hope to keep up the momentum after a succession of wins at the end of the SMP F4 Championship in 2015.
“I am really, really happy to progress from third in race one, second in race two and now winner in race three.” said an exstatic Enaam. “It was not an easy race but I controlled the gap fairly well. I’d really like to say thanks to Douglas Motorsport and my parents, Wayne Douglas and Marcus (his engineer) as they’ve given me a really good car and I love driving it.
“Toby and Lando were giving me a run for my money and it was hard to keep them behind as I hit a bollard down the straight and I thought that I might have broken my front wing for a second. I’m happy to get my first win in race three. I’ve gone quite well at Brands Hatch in the past so now I’m really looking forward to that weekend.”
He wasn’t the only Douglas Motorsport driver though, as teammate Thomas Randle ended the weekend on a relative high of fifth after a miserable start saw him finish a lap down in the opening race.
Team principal Wayne Douglas also commented, saying; “It’s great to come away leading the 2016 F3 series, but the weekend could have been even better!
“We tested very strongly before the event and were confident of achieving good results. Enaam drove superbly to score three podiums and deservedly leads the points standings but Thomas had a tougher weekend- he will hit back soon though!”