Van der Zande and Christodoulou win British F3 races
Race 1
Van der Zande staged a masterclass display of Hitech Racing and Mercedes superiority in round nine at Snetterton, leading from pole position to checkered flag.
Renger blasted into a one-second lead within the first couple of laps, and thereafter his second race win of the season was beyond doubt… His pursuers were racing for the second step of the podium.
"It has been a very good weekend so far," said Renger, "I have been quickest all the way. It's been a lot of fun. It's a great effort from the team, they have done really well."
Henry Arundel headed the chase for 20 of the 29 laps, until his Carlin Motorsport Dallara suffered a gear selection issue which delayed him long enough to allow his team-mate and championship leader Daniel Ricciardo to slip past. "I was struggling with the gears and Daniel made it through," said Henry, "but once I had worked out what the problem was I was able to drive around it and hang on to third."
Van der Zande crossed the line 3.8s clear at the line, his lead at one stage having been in excess of eight seconds, with Ricciardo comfortably ahead of Arundel. Van der Zande's Hitech team-mate Walter Grubmuller held fourth place throughout, shadowed all the way by Riki Christodoulou, Max Chilton and Jay Bridger.
Daniel McKenzie slotted his Fortec Dallara into eighth on the opening lap and held on in that position all the way to the flag to collect his sixth National Class victory of the season. Birthday boy Adriano Buzaid snatched ninth from the grasp of Daisuke Nakajima 10 laps from the end.
Race 2
Riki Christodoulou claimed a popular maiden victory in round 10, his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes pipping championship leader Ricciardo to victory by just over a second. Christodoulou's win brings to six the number of different race victors this season.
Riki got the job done within three laps of the start, after pole-sitter and round nine victor Renger van der Zande fluffed his getaway from the grid and let Christodoulou nose his way into second place at the first corner, just behind the Hitech car of Walter Grubmuller.
Christodoulou piled on the pressure during the first and second laps, then popped past the Austrian to claim the lead into Riches at the start of lap three. Thereafter he was home free.
Said Riki: "I knew I had to get a good start, and I managed to get ahead of Renger off the line, then two laps later I passed Walter down the start/finish line, and from there I was able to control the race."
Grubmuller further lost out when Ricciardo followed Christodoulou's example and popped past, following Riki home all the way to the flag and a solid second place for Carlin Motorsport. "If someone had told me this morning that I would take 30 points from today I wouldn't have believed them," said Daniel. "We still don't have winning pace, but when you can't win you have to try to bag good points, which is what we've done."
A disappointed Grubmuller had to make do with third, just ahead of his team-mate van der Zande. The T-Sport twins, Adriano Buzaid and Wayne Boyd, were well in touch throughout the race to collect fifth and sixth, with Max Chilton, Henry Arundel, Jay Bridger and Victor Garcia completing the top 10.
Gabriel Dias made an excellent start to the race to lead the National Class throughout, with Daniel McKenzie second in class and newcomer Aaron Steele third in his Litespeed.
Round 9 provisional result, Snetterton, 5/7/2009
29 laps / 56.61 miles
1 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 30m 39.225s
2 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +3.870s
3 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +10.243s
4 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +10.649s
5 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +14.269s
6 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +14.674s
7 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +15.089s
8 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +15.271s
9 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +16.640s
10 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +19.958s
11 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, +26.866s
12 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +27.866s
13 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +29.471s
14 INT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +30.516s
15 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +30.843s
16 INT Stéphane Richelmi/MON, Barazi-Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, +53.827s
17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, +56.316s
18 NAT Aaron Steele/GBR, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 28 laps
19 NAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 28 laps
NOT CLASSIFIED
INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 15 laps
FASTEST LAPS
INT van der Zande 1m 02.645s / 112.17mph
NAT McKenzie 1m 03.133s / 111.30mph
Round 10 provisional result, Snetterton, 5/7/2009
29 laps / 56.61 miles
1 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 30m 42.827s / 110.58mph
2 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +1.152s
3 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +1.803s
4 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +3.095s
5 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +7.390s
6 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +9.213s
7 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +9.767s
8 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +15.916s
9 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +16.263s
10 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +17.165s
11 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, +18.584s
12 INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +20.324s
13 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +21.040s
14 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +21.506s
15 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +27.152s
16 NAT Aaron Steele/GBR, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, +56.745s
17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 28 laps
18 NAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 28 laps
NOT CLASSIFIED
INT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 19 laps
INT Stéphane Richelmi/MON, Barazi-Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, 0 laps
FASTEST LAPS
INT van der Zande 1m 02.863s / 111.78mph
NAT Dias 1m 03.359s / 110.90mph
PROVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
INT 1 Ricciardo 119 points; 2 Grubmuller 96; 3 van der Zande 85; 4 Christodoulou 81; 5 Nick Tandy 68; 6 Marcus Ericsson 65 etc.
NAT 1 McKenzie 172; 2 Dias 123; 3 Correa 100 etc.
