Carlin takes 1-2-3-4 at Spa

Carlin Motorsport took a historic 1-2-3-4 finish at Spa-Francorchamps today, as Oliver Turvey led home his three Carlin team mates in round 15 of the 2008 British F3 International Series. The Racing Steps Foundation driver led a lights-to-flag victory despite coming under pressure from Red Bull driver Brendon Hartley at the start. Jaime Alguersuari and Sam Abay fought a close battle to come home in third and fourth respectively.

As the lights went out, Hartley made the best getaway, just leading Turvey into the first corner. Turvey fought back however, and the two were side by side going into Eau Rouge, with Turvey taking back the lead into Les Combes. Behind them, Abay had lost out to Ericsson into Eau Rouge, and was down to fifth place by the end of lap one. The young Australian fought his way back however, taking advantage of a squabbling Alguersuari and Ericsson to slot in behind Alguersuari and take fourth place at the end of lap two.

The Carlin drivers dominated the remainder of the race, with Turvey and Hartley pulling away from the rest of the field. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap six, Hartley couldn’t quite get close enough to Turvey and had to be satisfied with second. Behind them, Alguersuari and Abay were running closely in third and fourth to take Carlin’s best ever result in British F3.

Race winner Oliver Turvey said, “Brendon managed to get past me at the start and we were side by side into Eau Rouge, and then I managed to slip stream him through Les Combes and get back into the lead. From there on it was a matter of controlling the race as I felt I was quick enough to win. We really had the pace, Carlin Motorsport have done a fantastic job and given us a great car all weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to get another win tomorrow."

Second placed man Brendon Hartley commented, “I got a good start and managed to get into the first corner just in front, but sometimes that’s not the best place to be here, and Oliver was able to get a slip stream and pass me. From then on, we were able to pull away, and all credit to him I knew that I wasn’t going to get past him unless he made a mistake. I’m pleased with second place though, and hopefully this will be the first of some more consistent results."

Team Principal Trevor Carlin said, “We knew we had a quick car coming to Spa, but we could never have expected a 1-2-3-4 finish. The pace of the drivers was amazing, and they all did a fantastic job to give the team its best result ever. We’re now first and second in the championship with Jaime and Oliver, but we need to make sure that we keep pushing just as hard to maintain that gap tomorrow. It’s due to the hard work of the drivers, mechanics, engineers and our R &D department that we were able to take such great results and I would like to thank them for a true team effort."