As the sun rises on another warm day at Snetterton, points leader Enaam Ahmed faces the fact that barring any mishap, could clinch the BRDC British F3 Championship title.
The Carlin driver currently sits on 524 points, beating last years points record of Matheus Leist. He currently has a gap of 117 points to James Pull in second and 139 points to Toby Sowery, the only drivers still with a mathematical chance.
The reverse grid event sees race one winner Ahmed start from eighth, with Sowery and Pull one place above in seventh and sixth respectively. Though the champion-elect will be helped by the reduced points available.
With 130 points still available after this race, Sowery needs to outscore Ahmed by 10 points to remain within contention. This would require Ahmed to finish no higher than sixth providing Sowery took the win, or for Sowery to be eleventh if Ahmed retired.
As for Pull, his chances are slightly more realistic.
Ahmed needs to outscore his teammate by 13 points, which would mean that Pull simply needs to finish providing Ahmed is third or lower. Should Ahmed be second or first, James would need to be twelfth or ninth respectively.
Permutations mean that it’s far more likely Ahmed will clinch the title in race three, where Pull would need to close the gap by 23 points (a podium finish providing Ahmed retires) to remain in contention with only 95 points after this weekend.
Speaking to TCF, Ahmed summed up his race one.
“Track conditions changed quite a lot, so I was really, really loose. Meant I had to adapt my driving style, which is why Toby was quicker as he adapted slightly better than I did. Once I changed my lines, the grip was in different places than before so I just needed to adapt and I was able to win.”
“I don’t want to say too much at the moment, but I’m closer to the title, we’ll have to see how it goes.”
Speaking about race two, Ahmed avoided the fact he’d be focusing on the title.
“Race two will be about fastest laps. Don’t know who’s in front of us or if they’re particularly quick, but I know Toby and I are. We’re gonna do the fastest lap and see where it goes from there.”
