British F3, Round 8, Silverstone

[strider]

I thought I'd set the ball rolling on this one. British F3 returns to the UK this weekend and the venue is Silverstone. Sadly the International circuit, not the GP one.

There's an event preview here and a map of the circuit here. Click on the circles for the names of the corners and photos of each one. Follow that up with an interesting description of a lap of the circuit by Marko Asmer here. Listen to the audio version if you can, despite the annoying background of the FIA GT cars pounding around Spa. It's a remarkably lucid and coherent piece, which gives an insight into just how focused and clear-thinking Marko has become.

There are a couple of 90 minute free practice sessions on Friday morning, which you should be able to follow on MST here. Live timing looks to be available. The race meeting itself will be covered by MST here. You can see what else is going to be racing and find a timetable for the meeting here, which you download in PDF format. I don't know why the F3 races are shown as 20 laps. It should be however many laps are likely to be completed in 30 minutes, subject to a cut-off point of 30 minutes, if that makes sense. Last year the races were 24 laps.

The Championship Class points positions are here and for the rather more closely contested National Class they are here.

So far as the entry list goes, Alex Waters is sadly thought to have glandular fever and may have to give the meeting a miss, but Double R have come up with yet another newcomer, Ernesto Otero from Brazil, who should be racing in the National Class.

Amazingly, all those links appear to work. Let's hope for a good meeting. There's a weather forecast here, which suggests it's going to stay fine. Shame, a quick shower or two on Sunday would liven things up! But nothing of Spa proportions, please.

[bella]

au countraire on the weather - auntie has been predicting rain on the look east forecasts on sunday, although the forecast earlier in the week was rain for saturday...

[strider]

I tend not to trust Auntie these days - she's always changing her mind - which is why I put the link to metcheck.com, but I agree, even that is predicting intermittent rain for Sunday afternoon now.

Today and tomorrow look good, but there might even be a splash of rain after close of play on Saturday. So much for any thoughts of a barbeque...

[bella]

pants. all hands on deck to dig out the wellies then

[ChrisA]

Well, us hardy marshals will be there, prepared for whatever the heavens throws at us. Anyway the forecast is for light showers late on Sunday.

[nycuk]

I'm going both days this weekend. Owing to personal commitments and heavy work load this is my first opportunity to go see F3 for a couple of seasons. Can anyone tell me if you can access the infield and paddock anymore for free - or do you have to pay now? Thanks in advance.

[ChrisA]

As far as I know infield access is free, and also some paddock admission too.

[bella]

all paddock admission is almst totally definitely free - the last round to ban spectators from the paddock was the gp masters support event.

[24Hours]

Hey guys. Im from Australia, and am currently living here in the UK. I would love to come out and attend this meeting and as I have just arrived and dont have a car yet, how can i get to the circuit? I have looked for buses and trains etc but nothing seems to be near the circuit? Any help would be appreciated. cheers

[Alex K]

Where d'u live mate?

[24Hours]

Wembley Park. sorry i should have metioned that.

[macsport]

Qualifying 1 - Top 4: Asmer, Mustonen, Gonzalez, Mansell G

Full Result here

[Last2LiftOff]

Thanks Mac. Hey, if Perez does indeed claim the National class title from Cheng this year, is there an award? A scholarship or some such? And for the Championship class? Again, just trying to get caught-up.

How're the cars taking to the International circuit? I'm sure there are some attendees on the line...

[macsport]

Qualifying 2 - Top 4 - Asmer, Engel, Devaney, Gonzalez

Good effort from Devaney to score teams best grid position and Greg Mansell was top dog for first half of the session and finished 5th

Full report and results here

[cg7aa]

macsport, I like your updates and links. Keep it up.

[Mekola]

What's up with Guerrieri? On last rounds he's overshadowed by Devaney on Mygales cars. And unfortunately their managers of LSG aren't keen to allow press to interview/report him to know more.

[Last2LiftOff]

A half-hour behind I reckon for race 2? Live timing here.

[roachy101]

i suppose guerrieri could still be learning some of the tracks so that could be why devaney is outperforming him at the moment

[nycuk]

Asmer was mighty this weekend - faultless.
On another note, I took a load of pictures in the paddock yesterday - I recognise all the drivers except one I'm not sure of - would someone maybe be so kind as to take a look and see if they know who it is?
Many thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul69/1081706811/

[Suze]

Race 2 was Asmer from Engel, Greg Mansell and Devaney - I think the other Mygale was back in 11th or so. Things were running slightly behind schedule, and the race itself wasn't too exciting from where I was sat.

[macsport]

Originally Posted by nycuk

- I recognise all the drivers except one I'm not sure of - would someone maybe be so kind as to take a look and see if they know who it is?

Niall Breen

[nycuk]

Originally Posted by macsport

Niall Breen

Thank you Macsport - very much appreciated.

[strider]

It was an Asmer master class, really. Both Double R and Carlin seemed slightly off the pace. Maro Engel must be getting really fed up with being fastest in Friday practice, then failing quite to recapture that form over the weekend, even though he did at least follow Asmer home in both races today. This moves him back to 2nd in the points table, although a distant 84 points behind Marko.

In the National Class, Sergio Perez mirrorerd Asmer's efforts and now has a useful 37 point lead. Frankie Cheng followed him home in Race 2, but had a puncture in Race 1 and retired. A curious decision, really, because if they'd fitted the other tyre (for Race 2) and sent him out again, at least he would have finished and been classified and scored some points, which is better than none at all.

It wasn't so hot today and at one point I would have money on it raining for Race 2, but it never happened, which was a shame, really.

Atte Mustonen was 3rd in Race 1 and Greg Mansell took that place in Race 2, which added some variety.

I don't know what's up with Guerrieri. Devaney has generally been faster in recent races. There's something strange about the Mygales. They seem to start brightly, then fade away, although Devaney took 4th in Race 2.

[Alex K]

For Marko now it is question where to go next season, this championship is his to take. I am really aware of his future, he seems to be tight on budget, as Maro Engel is, and am really aware of their future. Hopefully will not go in the footsteps of Hynes and van der Merwe.

What do you think? Do you think he'll come back to Japan? Formula Nippon, or F3? What about Engel?

Nonetheless perfect race and perfect season for Asmer. I wouldn't expect him to do such a great job for the team, especially he's not part of Carlin RRR combo. Great job Marko, pretty good Maro...

[bella]

the mygale thing is odd - guerrieri does the most outstanding first few laps (more so than devaney). sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't it comes spectacularly unstuck. which is a complete shame, regardless of why.

asmer's doing a very good job, he won today's races pretty convincingly and that's really been why he's ahead - when he's on form, he's very good, and when he isn't on form, he always ends up picking up the points.