British Formula 3 - Round 2 - Monza

[strider]

In one giant leap the teams have moved from Oulton Park to Monza and the cars will be being scrutineered even as I write this. Thereafter, the remarkably sensible timetable goes like this:

Friday, April 13th
09:00 to 09:45 - Free Practice One
14:00 to 14:45 - Free Practice Two

Saturday, April 14th
10:45 to 11:15 - Qualifying
14:00 to 14:30 - Race One (30 minutes)

Sunday, April 15th
09:15 to 09:35 - Race Two (20 minutes)
12:55 to 13:35 - Race Three (40 minutes)

The same 14 cars are entered as at Oulton Park.

I can't give you a Live Timing link, because timing is in the mysterious hands of Blancpain (watch manufacturs) who sponsor the main event.

The best advice I can give is to keep an eye on Twitter if you have it, otherwise the official website - www.formula3.co - There's often a link to times at the end of each race report.

[bella]

this will more than likely have the timesheets (under "bpe" as per last year presumably), but unless i'm being dim i can't find anywhere for live timing either:

http://gt1world.com/index.php/pages/results

[strider]

You're actually very bright to have found that link, not dim at all!

Blancpain are so secretive about the times that I had to get one set from TSL long after the event last year, because I like to keep a record of them. It's kinda typical of SRO. Even the teams at the circuit were having difficulty getting the printed times last year.

The other thing I forgot to mention, although it's not F3-related, is that Valentino Rossi is co-driving a Ferrari in the main race, so F3 should have a big crowd, at least for the feature race on Sunday!

[Valker]

Originally Posted by bella

but unless i'm being dim i can't find anywhere for live timing either

Here you go:
http://static.sportresult.com/federa...ia/app/portal/

[strider]

That's funny! I'd just found that link, admittedly courtesy of the first free practice report on the official website.

If you click on the Cooper Tires line the first session times are there at the moment. Sainz was fastest from Derani and Harvey. It was wet!

I'm more pleased than ever that I didn't make the effort to go. A friend said: "Get ya butt over to Monza", and listed the various attractions, one of which was sunshine! It would have been good to see her, but I can do that at circuits much closer than Monza.

[bella]

as a spectator, if you're going to gamble on the weather being good at monza then the time to do it is in autumn. it's a lovely place in september, and the air is still warm rather than relying on the sun being out to warm the place up again as you have to do in april!

the whole field looks pretty close so hopefully it'll be exciting racing. that doesn't justify needing to deal with ryanair to get there for less than the cost of a relative though

[CATMAN]

Your race times differ from the time table I've seen Strider

"Cooper Tires British F3 Series 2012, Races 4 - 6, Monza (CEST)

Saturday, 14 April 2012
3.00 p.m. – Race 1

Sunday, 15 April 2012
9.15 a.m. – Race 2
12.55 p.m. – Race 3"

Strider you have
"Saturday, April 14th
10:45 to 11:15 - Qualifying
14:00 to 14:30 - Race One (30 minutes)

Sunday, April 15th
09:15 to 09:35 - Race Two (20 minutes)
12:55 to 13:35 - Race Three (40 minutes)"
It seems as though you may be showing BST for Saturday and CEST for Sunday ??????????

Maybe you could clarify.

[EastonNeston]

Pleaser remember that for any event where SRO are involved, the timetable is a variable work of fiction, with a definitive version only released a few weeks after the event.

Thanks to the SRO organised Renault Clio championship, they are already on version 6, yes SIX, of the time table for the BTCC meeting at Donington Park this weekend. What impression this gives to sponsors & guests can only be imagined.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by bella

hopefully it'll be exciting racing

It won't be; it's F3, remember.

[EastonNeston]

It's Monza! F3 is usually very entertaining there.

[strider]

Originally Posted by CATMAN

Your race times differ from the time table I've seen Strider

Maybe you could clarify.

I've double checked and there was one error, the time for Race 1 tomorrow. I've amended my original post and put the correct time in bold. There was a last-minute bulletin.

Originally Posted by strider

The remarkably sensible timetable goes like this:

Friday, April 13th
09:00 to 09:45 - Free Practice One
14:00 to 14:45 - Free Practice Two

Saturday, April 14th
10:45 to 11:15 - Qualifying
15:00 to 15:30 - Race One (30 minutes)

Sunday, April 15th
09:15 to 09:35 - Race Two (20 minutes)
12:55 to 13:35 - Race Three (40 minutes)

Hope that's clear.

[EastonNeston]

Monza Qualifying
http://static.sportresult.com/federa...ia/app/portal/
Sainz
Serrales
Lynn
Jaafar
Van Assledonk
Derani
Fantin
Tinknell
McBride
Harvey
Uhraine
Ilyas
Goddard
Pad

The link has full times.
The session was held on a drying track.

[strider]

Now that the full results of qualifying are known, here's a report from the very fine Marcus Simmons, together with the grids for races 1 and 3.

Race 1 Grid (Today

Pos Driver                  Team/Car                 Time
 1. Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.768s
 2. Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.787s
 3. Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merce     1m47.172s
 4. Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merce     1m47.209s
 5. Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.239s
 6. Pipo Derani             Fortec  Dallara-Merc     1m47.311s
 7. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.603s
 8. Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.658s
 9. Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.861s
10. Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m47.905s
11. Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.139s
12. Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc    1m49.373s
13. Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m50.513s
14. Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m50.899s

Race 3 Grid (Sunday)

Pos Driver                  Team/Car                 Time
 1. Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.575s
 2. Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.722s
 3. Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.779s
 4. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.901s
 5. Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.951s
 6. Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m47.083s
 7. Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.219s
 8. Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.562s
 9. Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m47.583s
10. Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.788s
11. Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.015s
12. Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.992s
13. Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m49.943s
14. Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m50.736s

Obviously Sainz and Seralles were the stars, whilst series leader, Jack Harvey, suffered a nightmare. If there was something wrong with his car and Carlin can fix it, there is no better circuit than Monza for fighting through the field, with slipstreaming readily available.

Meanwhile Seralles has the chance to win two races back-to-back within seven days.

[strider]

Race 1 this afternoon was something very different. Read the report first.

And here are the results:

Results - 15 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW         30m32.179s
 2.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc         + 9.889s
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW          + 12.509s
 4.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 17.418s
 5.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW          + 18.608s
 6.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 18.892s
 7.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW          + 20.575s
 8.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan     + 34.042s
 9.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc      + 43.095s
10.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      + 1m01.445s
11.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   + 1m48.060s
12.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc       + 3 laps

Retirements:

     Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen*      14 laps
     Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW            11 laps

*= National Class

After all that, there was a sting in the tail. It really doesn't seem to be Jack Harvey's weekend.

[strider]

Nobody seems to be taking a whole of notice of this thread and if you'd been at Monza today you'd probably have been even less interested, because it rained from dawn 'til dusk.

The mostly reversed grid came first and gave Felix Seralles the chance to take his second win in eight days. Report and ...

Results - 9 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time/Gap
 1.  Felix Serralles      Fortec Dallara-Merc      21m09.965s
 2.  Jack Harvey          Carlin Dallara-VW          + 3.702s
 3.  Pietro Fantin        Carlin Dallara-VW         + 10.915s
 4.  Nick McBride         T-Sport Dallara-Nissan    + 15.235s
 5.  Jazeman Jaafar       Carlin Dallara-VW         + 18.264s
 6.  Pipo Derani          Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 19.823s
 7.  Alex Lynn            Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 19.959s
 8.  Carlos Sainz Jr      Carlin Dallara-VW         + 21.313s
 9.  Harry Tincknell      Carlin Dallara-VW         + 22.692s
10.  Fahmi Ilyas          Double R Dallara-Merc     + 26.107s
11.  Geoff Uhrhane        Double R Dallara-Merc     + 47.433s
12.  Duvashen Padayachee  Double R Dallara-Mugen*   + 56.468s

Retirements:

    Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*       5 laps
    Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc          0 laps

Later on came the feature race, which gave Carlos Sainz an opportunity to take an even more decisive win than yesterday. He has stamped his authority on the series this weekend and taken the points lead, although I think the Fortec opposition might have been stronger had it been dry. Report and...

Results - 19 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time/Gap
 1.  Carlos Sainz Jr      Carlin Dallara-VW         
 2.  Felix Serralles      Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 16.711s
 3.  Alex Lynn            Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 27.424s
 4.  Jazeman Jaafar       Carlin Dallara-VW         + 18.264s
 5.  Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 32.083s
 6.  Harry Tincknell      Carlin Dallara-VW         + 33.891s
 7.  Pipo Derani          Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 41.236s
 8.  Jack Harvey          Carlin Dallara-VW         + 41.749s
 9.  Nick McBride         T-Sport Dallara-Nissan    + 49.826s
10.  Fahmi Ilyas          Double R Dallara-Merc   + 1m30.064s
11.  Spike Goddard        T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*  + 1m44.938s
12.  Duvashen Padayachee  Double R Dallara-Mugen* + 1m52.702s

Retirements:

     Pietro Fantin        Carlin Dallara-VW            7 laps
     Geoff Uhrhane        Double R Dallara-Merc        6 laps

*Denotes National Class runners.

[MikeHoyer]

Originally Posted by strider

Nobody seems to be taking a whole of notice of this thread and if you'd been at Monza today you'd probably have been even less interested, because it rained from dawn 'til dusk.

It was lovely! A shame that none of the races got a proper start though, Race 1 had everyone dive into the pits, and 2 and 3 both started behind the safety car. At least it was only a couple of laps, unlike the GT race!

[chunterer]

Ok, so Serralles, a dark horse already it seems.

I'm interested to know if anyone rated him particularly prior to the last couple of rounds, compared to drivers like Sainz, Harvey and Lynn who have already shown serious form in lower categories?

[bella]

he didn't cover himself with glory in the eurocup last year, but that is a big ask when you've got fields of 35-40 cars at every round. there were many drivers ahead of him who will easily end up in gp2 and do very well if the money is there. he finished 12th in the championship. he was beaten by guys like norman nato (similar level of experience), alex riberas (less experience), stoffel vandoorne (similar experience) etc.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by bella

he didn't cover himself with glory in the eurocup last year

I'm with you on that... I hope it's not a reflection on the state of BF3 or the class of 2012 [because I did rate Sainz and Lynn]... but I fear it may be.

[bella]

yeah, but like i say with the eurocup you do have to consider the fact that the opposition is either insanely experienced for that level (the red bull guys) or just downright quick (stoffel vandoorne, alex riberas, javier tarancon). it's a very tricky series to be just quicker than average in, and the guy was in his first year of european racing. let's cut him a bit of slack....

sainz really is an epic driver, so i'd not worry about him. i've not seen enough of alex lynn to judge though.

the really quick guys will go faster if there's someone there to push them to go faster. if they don't have a good enough opposition they simply get bored and just drive as fast as is necessary to beat everyone else. it's like being at school if you're really clever. you just sit back and go with the flow. /vast exaggeration

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

sainz really is an epic driver, so i'd not worry about him. i've not seen enough of alex lynn to judge though.

the really quick guys will go faster if there's someone there to push them to go faster. if they don't have a good enough opposition they simply get bored and just drive as fast as is necessary to beat everyone else. it's like being at school if you're really clever. you just sit back and go with the flow. /vast exaggeration

The thing about Sainz at the weekend is that in both the main races he never let up and pulled away by an ever increasing margin. If the conditions are difficult it's better to do that because you're more likely to make a mistake if you relax a bit.

Seralles has been a surprise to me. In the feature race at Oulton I thought he would succumb to the pressure from Harvey because they were both trying very hard, but in fact he consistently pulled away by a tenth or so per lap.

[bella]

Originally Posted by strider

The thing about Sainz at the weekend is that in both the main races he never let up and pulled away by an ever increasing margin. If the conditions are difficult it's better to do that because you're more likely to make a mistake if you relax a bit.

the novelty of soundly thrashing the rest of the field hadn't worn off yet

i was seriously impressed too.

if you aren't already, you should all (er, so about 4 of us who have read this thread) be reading anything that comes up on the autosport site about british f3. it's proper motorsport reporting, telling the stories and really giving you a great background into the series rather than just telling you what happened on the track. that's the kind of reporting you pay a subscription to read.

[Peter Cammish]

Sainz has terriffic car control that was obvious at Oulton in Round 1.

When the FR Euroseries came to UK, it was clear that all the top 5 or 6 in UK FR would have run right at the front, only Robin Frijns looked a cut above to me and I think he will make F1 in due course as he is a clear stand out, so I think you have to say the Serralles has made a nice step, I remember he was quick at the FR UK round that supported the FR Euroseries but in general he was not a contender despite being in the leading team in the series Fortec. With guys who are so young then perhaps confidence is the key and with the good run at Oulton Quali it then comes together and the talent shines through. The series is early days but it looks very interesting to me.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

if you aren't already, you should all (er, so about 4 of us who have read this thread) be reading anything that comes up on the autosport site about british f3. it's proper motorsport reporting, telling the stories and really giving you a great background into the series rather than just telling you what happened on the track. that's the kind of reporting you pay a subscription to read.

Totally agree. Marcus Simmons has been a friend since the first time he reported on British F3 for Autosport, so I'm biased, but you're right, he sets the standard for motorsport reporting.