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Nothing to seperate Perez and Alguersuari

BRANDS HATCH

Round seven of British Formula Three was held at Brand Hatch. Sergio Perez leads the International Championship by just one point for T-Sport, his nearest rival is Carlin driver Jamie Alguersuari. In the National Class Andy Meyrick of Carlin leads as he has all season.

Alguersuari won the first race after leading from start to finish. He took pole from Fortec driver Marcus Ericsson who dropped down the grid due to a yellow flag infringement in qualifying, and took full advantage of it by getting a clean start.

Team mate Oliver Turvey, the next great British hope, took second from Atte Mustonen’s Double R at the start of the race and kept him behind for the entire race as they finished second and third.

Championship leader Perez could only manage fourth, Ericsson was fifth after being demoted from pole to sixth on the grid. Walter Grubmuller was sixth for Hitech, Nick Tandy seventh for JTR, Brendon Hartley for Carlin eighth, John Martin ninth for Double R and Michael Devaney tenth for Ultimate.

In the National Class, Championship leader Meyrick was absent for the weekend and rival Jay Bridger of Fluid took full advantage by winning race one with a fourteenth overall finishing place. Series debutant Jonathan Legris was second for Litespeed with Steven Guerrero third for T-Sport

Race two was won by Perez. He took the lead from Ericsson and held it under intense pressure until the Swede spun off at Sheene Curve on the last lap.

Ericsson’s mistake promoted Mustonen to second with Turvey taking his second podium of the day in third. Alguersuari had taken the Championship lead with his race one win but he could only manage fourth in race two allowing Perez to regain the lead.

Tandy was fifth, Sebastian Hohenthal finished sixth for Fortec after a retirement earlier. Sam Abay was seventh for Carlin ahead of Grubmuller, Devaney and Hitech driver Max Chilton to complete the points.

Guerrero finished twelfth overall to take the National Class win, Salman Al-Khalifa was second for T-Sport and Bridger finished third to take the lead in the National Championship.

In the International Championship, after a win and a fourth place each Perez and Alguersuari are now tied on points, with Alguersuari gaining a bonus for pole position. They both have 142 points. Turvey is third with 130 points.

In the National Class: Bridger has taken the lead due to Meyrick’s absence. Bridger has 198 and Meyrick has 174. It is the first time this season that Meyrick has not lead the championship. Guerrero is in third place with 137 points.

Written: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:46:46