Hartley Sidelined At Brands Hatch

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Hartley Sidelined At Brands Hatch

A problem with the engine sidelined New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley in the latest round of the British Formula 3 Championship at Brands Hatch overnight. The Kiwi’s retirement when running in sixth place ended his woeful weekend at the famous Kent Grand Prix circuit.

Racing on the challenging 2.6-mile circuit for the first time, Hartley endured a tough weekend and he has slipped to fifth place in the International series after 14 of the 22 rounds. Hartley’s Red Bull Dallara-Mercedes wasn’t among the pace setters as he learnt the track during Friday testing and his qualifying was marred by a six spot grid penalty for an alleged yellow flag infringement.

Just before the start of Sunday’s first race – with Hartley relegated to twelfth on the grid – a punctured right rear in his matched set of race tyre meant he had to use one mismatched older tyre.
Hartley struggled with this setup but held eighth place throughout after making a good start.

With the retirement four laps from the end of the second Brands Hatch race when he was lying in sixth place, Hartley came away from the seventh of eleven meetings with only 3pts.

Adding to the frustration for Hartley was that his Carlin Motorsport team mate Jaime Alguersuari dominated round 13 at Brands Hatch from pole position. The first race was red flagged after 16 laps following a heavy accident involving Alistair Jackson at the exit of Surtees. Oliver Turvey finished second after passing Atte Mustonen at the start.

Hartley went down the inside of Max Chilton at Graham Hill Bend and gained three other places before the end of lap one. Alguersuari started to ease away at the front of the large field as Mustonen put pressure on Turvey, who in turn had Sergio Perez filling his mirrors. Ericsson –recovering from a qualifying penalty that cost him pole position had Grubmuller not far behind.

By lap six the leader had opened a five second gap to the Turvey/Mustonen battle and broke Marko Asmer's F3 lap record as he continued to pull away.
Further back, Jackson put two wheels on the outside kerb at Surtees, losing control of his Mygale which spun across the track hitting the barriers on the inside of the exit hard. The safety car was deployed and with just a few minutes remaining, the red flag was shown and the race declared on lap 16.

Later on Sunday, Sergio Perez took his fourth win of the season, and his first podium since Monza, after getting a great start in round 14, the second race at Brands Hatch. The Mexican was under pressure from Marcus Ericsson for the entire race but the Swede made a mistake two corners from home, spinning off into the barriers and promoting Atte Mustonen and Oliver Turvey to the final podium places.

Twenty seven cars lined up on the grid for round 14, including Jackson, the Ulsterman being given the all clear by the medics after his heavy accident in earlier in the day. At the start it was Ericsson who led the field away but it was second-placed Perez who got an even better getaway to get alongside the Swedish driver into Paddock Hill and sweep into the lead.

Oliver Turvey also got the drop on Alguersuari to slot into fourth behind Atte Mustonen at the first corner. John Martin stalled on the grid and set off in last place.
Perez had Ericsson filling his rear view mirrors as they crossed the line for the first time, followed by Mustonen, Turvey, Alguersuari, Hartley and Tandy. As the laps counted down the leading pair had a mere 0.3 seconds separating them as they pulled away from third placed Mustonen who was having the fend off Turvey.

On lap 15 Ericsson lined Perez up for a pass but the Mexican defended well causing the Swede to lose ground for the rest of the lap. Hartley was another casualty as his Dallara pulled off at Graham Hill Bend on lap 18.

As the race entered the final moments Ericsson was still right behind the leading Dallara but it looked as if he would have to settle for second place after Perez had soaked up the pressure Ericsson could throw at him.

However it was Ericsson who cracked and, two corners from the flag, his Dallara went straight on and into the barriers. Perez crossed the line in first place, three seconds ahead of Atte Mustonen, with Oliver Turvey claiming his second podium of the weekend.

The next round of the British International Formula 3 Championship is at Spa on August 2-3.

ROUND 13 of 22

1 - 4 - Int - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - Carlin Motorsport - 22:24.116 - 16 laps
2 - 17 - Int - Oliver TURVEY - GBR - Carlin Motorsport - 22:24.782 - 16 - 0.666
3 - 26 - Int - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 22:25.889 - 16 - 1.773
4 - 9 - Int - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - T-Sport - 22:26.514 - 16 - 2.398
5 - 8 - Int - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 22:27.359 - 16 - 3.243
6 - 2 - Int - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - Hitech Racing - 22:27.698 - 16 - 3.582
7 - 28 - Int - Nick TANDY - GBR - JTR Marshall Westland - 22:28.615 - 16 - 4.499
8 - 3 - Int - Brendon HARTLEY - NZL - Carlin Motorsport - 22:29.474 - 16 - 5.358
9 - 24 - Int - John MARTIN - AUS - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 22:29.927 - 16 - 5.811
10 - 16 - Int - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - Ultimate Motorsport - 23:12.545 - 16 - 48.4292
11 - 14 - Int - Philip MAJOR - CAN - Fortec Motorsport - 23:19.071 - 16 - 54.955
12 - 18 - Int - Sam ABAY - AUS - Carlin Motorsport - 23:19.433 - 16 - 55.317
13 - 12 - Int - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - Ultimate Motorsport - 23:20.449 - 16 - 56.333
14 - 50 - Nat - Jay BRIDGER - GBR - Fluid Motorsport Development - 23:21.947 - 16 - 57.831
15 - 61 - Nat - Jonathan LEGRIS - GBR - Litespeed F3 - 23:22.941 - 16 - 58.825
16 - 53 - Nat - Steven GUERRERO - COL - T-Sport - 23:23.305 - 16 - 59.189
17 - 57 - Nat - Salman AL KHALIFA - BHR - T-Sport - 23:23.881 - 16 - 59.765
18 - 51 - Nat - Stefan WILSON - GBR - Fluid - 23:25.347 - 16 - 01:01.231
19 - 5 - Int - Viktor JENSEN - ISL - Nexa Racing - 23:25.814 - 16 - 01:01.698
20 - 6 - Int - Henry ARUNDEL - GBR - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 23:26.172 - 16 - 01:02.056
21 - 56 - Nat - Martin O CONNELL - IRL - Carlin Motorsport - 23:31.683 - 16 - 01:07.567
22 - 52 - Nat - Hywel LLOYD - GBR - C F Racing - 23:34.152 - 16 - 01:10.036
23 - 59 - Nat - Jordan WILLIAMS - GBR - Team Loctite - 23:38.048 - 16 - 01:13.932
24 - 54 - Nat - Kristjan EINAR - ISL - Carlin Motorsport - 23:40.229 - 16 - 01:16.113

Not Classified
DNF - 11 - Int - Alistair JACKSON - GBR - Ultimate Motorsport - 15:13.138 - 11 - 5
DNF - 7 - Int - Sebastian HOHENTHAL - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 13:58.480 - 10 - 6
DNF - 1 - Int - Max CHILTON - GBR - Hitech Racing - 12:11.452 - 9 - 7

Fastest Lap
4 - Int - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - Carlin Motorsport - 105.54mph - 01:18.478

ROUND 14 of 22

1 - 9 - Int - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - T-Sport - 29:11.269 - 22
2 - 26 - Int - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 29:14.640 - 22 - 3.371
3 - 17 - Int - Oliver TURVEY - GBR - Carlin Motorsport - 29:15.032 - 22 - 3.763
4 - 4 - Int - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - Carlin Motorsport - 29:15.855 - 22 - 4.586
5 - 28 - Int - Nick TANDY - GBR - JTR Marshall Westland - 29:23.159 - 22 - 11.890
6 - 7 - Int - Sebastian HOHENTHAL - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 29:30.785 - 22 - 19.516
7 - 18 - Int - Sam ABAY - AUS - Carlin Motorsport - 29:31.240 - 22 - 19.971
8 - 2 - Int - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - Hitech Racing - 29:34.553 - 22 - 23.284
9 - 16 - Int - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - Ultimate Motorsport - 29:35.738 - 22 - 24.469
10 - 1 - Int - Max CHILTON - GBR - Hitech Racing - 29:38.526 - 22 - 27.257
11 - 6 - Int - Henry ARUNDEL - GBR - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 29:38.933 - 22 - 27.664
12 - 53 - Nat - Steven GUERRERO - COL - T-Sport - 29:53.249 - 22 - 41.980
13 - 14 - Int - Philip MAJOR - CAN - Fortec Motorsport - 29:53.650 - 22 - 42.381
14 - 57 - Nat - Salman AL KHALIFA - BHR - T-Sport - 30:07.947 - 22 - 56.678
15 - 50 - Nat - Jay BRIDGER - GBR - Fluid Motorsport Development - 30:08.590 - 22 - 57.321
16 - 5 - Int - Viktor JENSEN - ISL - Nexa Racing - 30:09.042 - 22 - 57.773
17 - 51 - Nat - Stefan WILSON - GBR - Fluid - 30:13.600 - 22 - 01:02.331
18 - 24 - Int - John MARTIN - AUS - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 30:14.348 - 22 - 01:03.079
19 - 61 - Nat - Jonathan LEGRIS - GBR - Litespeed F3 - 30:21.267 - 22 - 01:09.998
20 - 52 - Nat - Hywel LLOYD - GBR - C F Racing - 30:22.073 - 22 - 01:10.804
21 - 59 - Nat - Jordan WILLIAMS - GBR - Team Loctite - 30:25.918 - 22 - 01:14.649
22 - 54 - Nat - Kristjan EINAR - ISL - Carlin Motorsport - 29:17.786 - 21 - 1lap

Not Classified
DNF - 8 - Int - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 27:50.999 - 21
DNF - 12 - Int - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - Ultimate Motorsport - 23:32.230 - 17
DNF - 3 - Int - Brendon HARTLEY - NZL - Carlin Motorsport - 21:23.537 - 16
DNF - 11 - Int - Alistair JACKSON - GBR - Ultimate Motorsport - 12:41.674 - 9
DNF - 56 - Nat - Martin O CONNELL - IRL - Carlin Motorsport - 18:32.273 - 11

Fastest Lap
8 - Int - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 12 - 105.16mph - 01:18.761

D/M – Dallara-Mercedes; D/H – Dallara-Honda; M/M Mygale-Mercedes.
(N) –National Class competitor.

British Formula 3 Championship points after 14 of 22 rounds: =1, Perez, 142pts; =1, Aluersuari, 142pts; 3,Turvey, 130pts; 4, Hartley, 102 pts; 5, Hohenthal, 95pts; 6, Mustonen, 93pts; 7, Ericsson, 80pts; 8, Devaney, 73pts; 9, Chilton, 54pts; 10, Guerrieri, 43pts.

Points scored 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 plus 1pt for fastest lap at each round.

14th July, 2008.

ENDS

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