Sam Bird has maintained his place inside the top six of the British F3 International Series despite a disappointing second weekend of the season at
Donington Park.
The weekend didn't start well for the Carlin driver when he was only able to set the eighth quickest time during the Thursday test sessions, but that was still better than in qualifying where the 20-year-old was only able to set the eleventh best time for race one and the ninth best for race two.
“We had to change the set up in time for Saturday's qualifying, but we still didn't get it right, so I qualified in eleventh and ninth places,” Bird reflected after qualifying. “Fortunately, I seem to be quite quick off the line so I am hoping this will be the case and I can grab back a few places.”
In the first race, Bird made his predicted good start to climb up to seventh, but he was then forced onto the grass when one of the cars ahead ran wide. Bird recovered but had dropped down to twelfth, although in the closing laps he would manage to make up two places to secure a solitary point for tenth.
From the start of race two, Bird moved up from his ninth on the grid, but a series of incidents saw him spin and drop down to 23rd. From there, a strong drive through the field saw him come home in ninth place for his second points finish of the weekend.
“Naturally I'm disappointed not to have gone further up the order,” he said afterwards “but at least I was able to salvage some points and prove that overtaking in F3 is possible. I found the pace and was determined to retain my position in the championship table, which I have done.
“I'm really looking forward to the next round, which is a street race in Bucharest in May. It will be my first street race and although some of my rivals have done several, it will be the first time at Bucharest for all of us, so it should be a level playing field.”
