Adriano Buzaid was in sensational form on Bank Holiday Monday, notching up his second win in as many events. Having already scored two second-place results at the Norfolk circuit, Buzaid lead from start to finish and comfortably crossed the line ahead of newly crowned champion, Jean-Eric Vergne and James Calado.
As ever, the weather at Snetterton was changeable and the unpredictability proved an issue for some teams over the weekend. However, for Race 3, the track conditions improved and it was business as usual for Trevor Carlin's charges. Pole man Buzaid made no mistakes and accelerated into an early lead ahead of Vergne and Calado, with Daisuke Nakajima making a smooth getaway to slot ahead of Felipe Nasr for fourth.
Typically the best of the rest, Fortec's Oli Webb held sixth at the start. However, a disappointing weekend by his standards was topped off when he lost control coming out of Riches on the fourth lap and slammed side-on into the waiting tyre barrier. The demise of Webb's challenge was fuel to Jazeman Jaafar's fire. The Malaysian driver who has been quiet by his standards this season came to life and pushed on the second pack of cars.
Fourth place today went to Raikkonen Robertson's Nakajima, who finished just ahead of his team-mate Felipe Nasr. Jaafar placed sixth ahead of Carlos Huertas, Gabriel Dias, Will Buller, and Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Buller's hat-trick of strong finishes earned the T-Sport driver the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend accolade.
Further up the field, Calado and Vergne swapped places, sparring like two boxers. However, it finished with Calado settling for a hard-fought third place, and Vergne taking the runner-up spot on the podium. Buzaid remained unchallenged during the race, comfortably crossing the line to close the gap on Webb in the championship to just eight points; a Carlin 1-2-3 in the championship shouldn't be ruled out.
Brazilian born Buzaid, now a happy resident of the UK was thrilled to win again, remarking, “Everything has been going really well since Silverstone. I'd just like to thank the team; my engineer and the boys. They have done a fantastic job for me and the car was really sweet through the whole race. I really enjoyed it, had a lot of fun and the 40 minutes went quickly.”
2010 Champion, Jean-Eric Vergne acknowledged his team-mates strong form and added, “I had a good start, but not good enough to pass Adriano. He drove a fantastic race.”
Cooper Tires British F3 International Series
Round 27 Snetterton 30/8/2010 38 laps = 74.18 miles
Provisional results International class
1 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 39m 11.397s / 113.56mph
2 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +7.538s
3 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +7.965s
4 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes +14.282s
5 Felipe NASR / BRA, RR Dallara-Mercedes +15.314s
6 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +20.651s
7 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes +21.967s
8 Gabriel DIAS / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +23.175s
9 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +26.120s
10 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +41.922s etc
National class
1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +46.611s
2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 37 laps
3 Juan Carlos SISTOS / MEX, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda 37 laps
Fastest lap: Buzaid 1m 01.200s / 114.82mph