BF3

Thruxton: Billy Asaro race notes

Asaro scoring important points in Formula Three. Toronto, Canada (September 16, 2002): The British Formula Three Championship travelled to Thruxton in Andover, England, last weekend where Billy Asaro claimed two fourth-place finishes in the ...

Published: Sep 17, 2002, 2:27 PM

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Asaro scoring important points in Formula Three.

Toronto, Canada (September 16, 2002): The British Formula Three Championship travelled to Thruxton in Andover, England, last weekend where Billy Asaro claimed two fourth-place finishes in the Scholarship Class. The Canadian has been on a tear lately, racking up points and closing on his target of second in the point standings. So far this season, he has recorded thirteen top-five finishes, including two wins, and is fourth on the points list.

Going in to Thruxton, Asaro was confident, buoyed by the strength of recent results, but was slightly disappointed with his qualifying performances on Saturday. He gridded seventh and eighth for the races, saying that, although he the 3.892-km (2.356-mile) long road course captured his interest, it was proving formidable.

"It's a fast circuit, but it's very challenging," Asaro said. "There are a couple of corners where you can lose a lot of time if you don't get them just right. In qualifying, I still wasn't quite where I needed to be, but I improved each time I went on the track and by race time, I was pretty happy with what I was doing."

Unfortunately, qualifying saw Asaro damage a set of tires which left him with the liability of having to use the same set for both races.

Race one was fraught with incidents, which repeatedly interrupted competition. The safety car was used three times and after ten laps, the race was red flagged. The lack of racing laps helped save Asaro's tires, but prevented him from improving his position. Nevertheless, he had promoted himself to fifth in class when the race was temporarily stopped. The race was restarted in time to allow six more laps of racing and Asaro made the most of it, setting the fastest lap in the final leg of the race and bringing his green and white Sweeney Racing car home in fourth place.

Race two started well and Asaro was fifth when the pack came around to record the first lap. Five laps later he was fourth and pressuring for third, but having to look after his tires. As the twenty-one-lap race wore on, Asaro managed his race well, balancing his hard-charging, fiery instincts against the need to get his car to the finish. He drove to a very comfortable fourth place.

"Both races were tough, but for different reasons," Asaro reflected. "The first one was stopped so often it was hard to get into the flow. In the second race, I had the track figured out and the car was good, but I had to baby the tires. If not for that, I really think I could have finished second. The guys who finished second and third were right in front of me and I wanted to go racing, but I had to hold back.

Although the Scholarship title has already been claimed, second is still up for grabs. Asaro will be doing his best to become runner up when the British Formula Three Championship holds its final two races of the year next weekend (September 20-22) at Donington Park.

-mj/ba-

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