With all the focus of the weekend elsewhere in the Carlin squad Brazilian Adriano Buzaid scored his maiden win of the British F3 season, becoming the ninth different driver to stand atop the podium in the series this year.
With the second race of the weekend once more a reverse grid race with a compulsory 'pit stop' Buzaid's put in a rapid in-lap to leapfrog Raikkonen-Robertson driver Carlos Heurtas for the laurels at the end of the eleven lap race.
Huertas had converted his pole position in an early lead with Buzaid in close attention, though unable to find a way past the Columbian racer. However, when Huertas opted to pit on the seventh lap, Buzaid seized his opportunity, running two laps longer (gaining a second or so in the process) to appear fractionally ahead after he had made his own stop.
“It's been a year since my last win,” said Buzaid, “Although I have been pushing hard all season. Today we did a fantastic job, and it was more down to the team than me. I was second before the pit stops and I came out leading. They told me to push at the right time and they called me in at the right time. The strategy worked out really well, and big thanks to Carlin.”
Champion elect Jean-Eric Vergne finished third, winner of a mid-race battle with fourth place finisher Felipe Nasr that was settled when Vergne dived past at Vale.
James Calado finished fifth, dropping another two points to Vergne in the title race, ahead of Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Oli Webb, Jazeman Jaafar, Hywel Lloyd and Daniel McKenzie completed the top ten.
Just outside the top ten, in eleventh, was Invitation Class winner Carlos Munoz, driving for Mucke Motorsports, another of the growing flow of visitors from the F3 Euroseries.
James Cole took the win in the National Class, narrowly heading home Menasheh Idafar by seven-tenths. The two class regulars had run entirely different strategies, Idafar pitting lap two, while Cole persevered until lap eight, keeping the lead for the entire race.
Yesterday's class winner, newcomer Juan Carlos Sistos, was a distant third, more than thirty seconds adrift of the regulars.
