Another clean race from championship leader Ricky Collard saw him extend his BRDC British F3 Championship lead. He started on pole and lead from start to finish around the Snetterton circuit.
All drivers made a clean start as Collard made a good getaway to maintain the lead. The Carlin driver had broken away by a second to Matheus Leist within the first lap. Sadly for him the race was soon paused.
Enaam Ahmed having started ninth, was caught up in the midfield and rolled his car into Nelson. The safety car was called out as marshals attended Ahmed. Fortunately, he exited the car unaided and made his way off the circuit as his car was retrieved.
It was only his second retirement of the season, but the result put pay to any realistic chances he had at the championship. As the race got back underway, Collard continued to lead from Leist and Toby Sowery.
Behind the top three, the HHC Motorsport drivers battled with Ben Hingeley who was narrowly holding on from Harrison Scott. This allowed Thomas Randle to close up slightly while Quinlan Lall found himself off at Bombhole and dropping down the order.
As the race settled in, Leist fell away from Collard, under pressure from Sowery. This allowed the battle for fourth to heat up with Hingeley on course for his best result of the season. Meanwhile in seventh, Nikita Mazepin was enjoying a lonely race in seventh until Tarun Reddy closed in with eight minutes to go.
As the race drew to a close, Leist set three fastest laps in a row, breaking away from Sowery. Sadly for the Brazilian, he was unable to close the gap to Collard. Leist’s fastest lap was soon taken by Collard dropping him further behind in the series.
Behind the podium finishers, Hingeley took his best result of the season in fourth. Scott meanwhile held on to fourth after race long pressure from Randle. A final lap overtake from Reddy allowed him to finish seventh and gifted Mazepin race two pole.
TCF caught up with Collard after the podium and asked him about his victory: “It feels great. I broke away from Matheus in the beginning, after all in Formula racing, it’s all about the start. We had to reset after the safety car, but it was all about getting my composure back for the restart.”
“As the race went on I got the fastest lap which helped me in the championship, so it’s all about maintaining momentum this weekend.”
