BF3

Thruxton: Round 18 race report

Mustonen Makes it a Weekend of Firsts for Double R Atte Mustonen ( ...

Edited: Aug 28, 2007, 5:23 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Mustonen Makes it a Weekend of Firsts for Double R

Atte Mustonen (#26 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) scored his first win in British F3 finishing in a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Niall Breen (#21 Carlin) in Round 18 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series.

Rodolfo Gonzalez (#9 T Sport) took his podium of 2007 and the first for Mugen Honda this season and it was all smiles in the T Sport garage as Sergio Perez and Salman Al Khalifa finished 1st and 2nd in the National Class.

Round 18

Atte Mustonen led the 28-car field away as the lights went out to begin the race, with Double R teammate and Round 17 winner Stephen Jelley tucking in behind him as they entered the Complex for the first time. Jelley then was seen to slide sideways, either by contact with another car or a mistake, but the result was the Leicester driver was on the grass and trying desperately to rejoin the race but losing places all the time.

Sixth placed Niall Breen made an excellent start to move up through the field before the first corner and when the cars came back into view the Irish driver was behind Atte Mustonen, with Maro Engel (#23 Carlin) in third and Marko Asmer (#7 Hitech) in 4th as the big losers in the opening lap was 3rd placed Greg Mansell (#50 Fortec) and Jonathan Kennard (#2 Raikkonen Robertson Racing).

However things were worse for Mike Meadows (#55 Newnet Raikkonen Robertson Racing) and 'Frankie' Cheng (#39 Performance Racing) as a collision put both cars into the barriers and out of the race. The Safety Car was brought out for the second time that day to allow the two wrecked Dallara's to a safer position and the two drivers were returned to the paddock, both OK after their experience.

This put Sergio Perez in a comfortable lead at the front of the National Class, while his T Sport teammate Salman Al Khalifa was two places further back with the Championship car of Leo Mansell splitting the two National Class runners.

The race resumed on lap 6 with Mustonen getting a good start to pull away from Breen and Engel, who were nose to tail around the circuit. Engel in turn had Marko Asmer breathing down his neck, with Rodolfo Gonzalez, Alberto Valerio (#22 Carlin) and Greg Mansell all waiting for the front runners to make a mistake that would allow them to move up.

Stephen Jelley was recovering well, picking his way back up the field and passing Greg Mansell on lap 11 to move into 7th and challenging Valerio for 6th. However at the Chicane both cars spun, dropping Jelley behind Mansell and Valerio two places further down the order.

Salman Al Khalifa was trying to get past the Championship car of Leo Mansell to allow him to get a clear run at Perez but it was difficult for the Bahraini driver to get past the more powerful Dallara. However on lap 13 Mansell made a mistake and spun at the Chicane, right in front of Al Khalifa, who had to take hasty avoiding action.

Further backing in the National Class Hamad Al Fardan (#38 Performance Racing) was clawing his way back up the field after a bad opening part of the race and was soon into the third podium spot after getting the best of the ADR Dallara of Viktor Jensen (#37 ADR), the young Icelandic race winner struggling for pace on the sweeping Thruxton circuit.

At the front of the field Mustonen continued to pull away from Breen as Gonzalez set up a determined challenge on Engel. The Venezuelan dived on the inside of the German into the last corner and moved ahead to take the final podium position.

As the race entered the final lap it Mustonen who was nearly five seconds ahead of Breen and the 18-year-old Finn finally saw the chequered flag to the delight of his Double R team. Niall Breenn secured his first podium since his win at Snetterton in June and Rodolfo Gonzalez came home in 3rd, the first podium of 2007 for the reigning British F3 National Class Champion and the first for a Mugen Honda engined car this season. Gonzalez underlined his pace by taking the fastest lap of the race and the additional championship point.

Maro Engel was 4th, one place ahead of championship leader Marko Asmer. Asmer now holds a 72-point lead with 84 points available. Engel becomes the only challenger to the Estonians relentless march to the coveted title after Sam Bird picked up no championship points and slipped to 4th in the table behind Stephen Jelley who recovered to finish 7th in the race.

Sergio Perez had another perfect weekend with two wins, two poles and two fastest laps and now holds a commanding 69 point lead over 'Frankie' Cheng. Two podiums for Hamad Al Fardan has closed the gap to third placed Mike Meadows to just 5 points.

Rounds 19 and 20 of the 22 race series will take place at Croft in North Yorkshire on Sunday 9th September.

-credit: www.britishf3international.com

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article RegM: New Castle results 2007-08-26

Next article IRC: Honda JAS Motorsport Barum Rally final notes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

47 min

Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team

NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

1 h

NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles

Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

2 h

Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix

Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

3 h

Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts