Having made it into the lead by the end of the second lap, Matheus Leist never looked back. Though there was controversy behind as Carlin driver Ricky Collard crashed, bringing out the red flag. The result moves Leist into the lead of the BRDC British F3 Championship.
From pole, Ben Hingeley made a strong start but none was as good as Toby Sowery. He launched off the line and edged Collard onto the grass into the first turn. It went from bad to worse for the Brit as he was pushed out wide into the final complex, dropping to fourteenth.
Back at the front, Leist had taken control bumping pole sitter Hingeley into second. He was eventually relegated to third as team-mate Harrison Scott chased Leist at the front.
An already slim championship prospect was made unreachable for Thomas Randle as he was forced into the pits with a broken nose cone at the end of the second lap.
Enzo Bortoleto had been fourth at the end of the first lap, though could not hold on for long as Sowery and Jeremy Wahome forced their way through. Wahome was not used to running this far up and was eventually forced to retire after getting caught up with the midfield.
A safety car was called to neutralise the field as Leist continued to lead. By this point, Collard was on a charge, he was back up to sixth behind Sowery and Bortoleto after his disastrous start.
As the race went back to green Leist ran away with Scott once again keeping up with him. All eyes were now on the battle for fifth as Collard attacked Bortoleto.
The championship leader made a brave move into the first corner. It didn’t pay off and on the wet track slid into the side of Bortoleto. The two spun and beached themselves in the gravel. A red flag was called and the race ended.
This gave Leist the 25 points and the new championship lead. He was joined on the podium by the HHC Motorsport drivers of Scott and Hingeley. Sowery was classified fourth but there will be change behind.
Red flag rules state that the results are counted back a lap, however as the causes of the stoppage, Collard and Bortoleto were removed from the order.
This gave Thomas Maxwell an overall fifth place, his best of the season. Enaam Ahmed had been running as high as fifth, though fell back later on. He’ll take sixth with Aleksanteri Huovinen and Eugene Denyssen rounding out the top eight.
