BGP: Robbie Kerr race notes

Kerr out of luck at British GP.

After completely blitzing the field in the previous round of the British Formula 3 Championship at Brands Hatch, Robbie Kerr came back to Earth with a bump in the non-points British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone with a non-finish.

Kerrs problem, was an extremely rare mechanical problem on his Alan Docking Racing Dallara Mugen F302, a fuel pump failure.

Kerr qualified fifth for the race, just 0.025 seconds from taking a spot on the front row. It was a strange qualifying session, starting on a damp track, drying out and then featuring further rain shortly before the end.

"The radio broke just before I went out," said Robbie. "I would have come in for new tyres, but I just couldn't get any communication from the team. There was no point wasting time coming in if that wasn't the best thing to do." As it transpired, the four cars ahead of Kerr on the grid all pitted for new tyres.

At the start, Kerr got shouldered out of line at Copse Corner by Bruce Jouanny, allowing Mark Taylor to pass both of them. With momentum lost, Robbie also lost a place to drop to seventh behind Michael Keohane, but he quickly repassed the Irishman into Vale.

He then closed in on Jouanny to put pressure on the Frenchman for fifth. Kerr set a faster lap time than all bar the first three finishers, but everything came to an end on lap seven when the car slowed with fuel pump failure.

"Bruce was determined not to let anyone past at the start and ran me out wide. The fuel pump was soon on the way out. I still had pace round the corners, but it slowed me down the straights, and finally it just went. These things happen - but at least it's not a championship race and I haven't lost any points."

Summary:
1st Heikki Kovalainen (Finland); 2nd Fabio Carbone (Brazil); 3rd James Courtney (Australia); 4 Mark Taylor (Britain); 5th Bruce Jouanny (France); 6th Michael Keohane (Ireland); 7th Adam Carroll (Northern Ireland); 8th Robert Dahlgren (Sweden); 9th Alan van der Merwe (South Africa); 10th Ronnie Bremer (Denmark); DNF Robbie Kerr (Britain).

-rkr/sd-