As the four competitors prepare for the BRDC British F3 Season Finale, championship leader Ricky Collard said he feels confident knowing the title’s in his hands. The Carlin driver has been the man to beat since Rockingham and has no intention of letting go before the season’s out.
“I’m feeling confident. All the boys at Carlin are pushing and so am I,” said Collard. “We’ve obviously got to attack but also remember we are fighting for the title and be careful. I do feel relaxed though and haven’t thought about the weekend too much if I’m being honest,”
The British F3 Championship has been won by a number of famous faces over the years with Daniel Ricciardo, Mika Hakkinen and Ayrton Senna all going on to become Formula One elite.
“A good qualifying is absolutely vital.” the 20-year-old stated. “If we can park it on the front-row then we have a very good chance of winning race one. If that is done, then we can make sure we control races two and three and that will give us a really good chance of winning the championship.”
A win, in any race this weekend, will put the title within touching distance for Collard. His recent form will be enough to clinch him the title, though anything could happen in the final weekend.
“If I can win British F3 that will be hugely important for my career with BMW. They always wanted me to do the Nordschleife so it definitely will be an important two weeks in my life.”
His main rival Matheus Leist topped overall Thursday practice with a time of 1min 24.651. Despite this, Collard beat him in the morning session where he was fastest. The afternoon session meanwhile, saw Thomas Randle on top as the Australian looks to put in an outside bid for the title.
“We are ready to win,” Leist said. “As a team we’ve worked so hard across the whole year and I really think we deserve to win the title. We have a great set-up for Donington Park so we are going to keep focused on our work and do our best to take this title.”
