Toby Sowery collected his first BRDC British F3 win of the Silverstone weekend as he cleverly managed the treacherous conditions to break away from the field. The race was eventually finished under safety car after a crash further back.
After yesterday’s shunt, there was good news for Enzo Bortoleto, who was given all clear to race as twenty starters lined up on the grid. As the lights went out, the Tatuus-Cosworth machines set off with the rain bucketing down.
Pole sitter Jan Jonck kept the lead as a good start from Sisa Ngebulana saw the South African leap up to second before Ricky Collard scythed through the field to take the lead from Jonck on the way up to Stowe. Sadly for the championship leader, he ran wide and was eventually mugged by the rest of field, dropping to seventh.
The battle for first continued for half a lap as Sowery took the opportunity to take the lead, quickly breaking away from the pack. As the field settled into an order, Jonck struggled to find a dry line, dropping places as the field filled their way passed him.
Further back, Lando Norris, who’d started from seventeenth, made his way up to ninth after just two laps. He wasn’t planning to slow down though as he soon joined the battle for second behind Ngebulana.
With the field finally spreading out, Ngebulana desperately held off Matheus Leist and Norris, though there was only so long the South African was able to hold on, eventually losing second to Norris in a superb move around the outside of Abbey. Leist would eventually follow him through as he attempted to keep up with Norris.
Behind, the battle for fifth saw Thomas Randle hold off his team mate, Enaam Ahmed, Collard and Quinlan Lall. With Ahmed dropping out of the equation, the three went three wide through Luffields. Lall lost the back end, barrelling into Collard and taking himself out of the race. Collard continued after some heavily gesticulation, but with Lall beached, the safety car was brought out.
This seemed like bad news for Sowery who had opened an 8 second lead to Norris, but fortunetly for him the race was eventually finished under neutral conditions, allowing the Lanan Racing driver to take his third win of the year ahead of Norris and Leist.
Ngebulana eventually crossed the line in fourth, but spun while under safety car. He’d recovered his position but the stewards did not take kindly to this, excluding him. Randle was promoted to fourth with Ahmed and Ben Hingeley rounding out the top six.
