Sam Bird has slipped to third in the British F3 International Series standings after a tough weekend at
Silverstone.
The Carlin driver suffered problems during qualifying which left him seventh and tenth on the grid for the two races and with overtaking far from easy on the International lay-out, he had to settle for a brace of sixth place finishes – which sees him drop behind Carlin team-mate Maro Engel in the standings after the German finished second in both races.
“People are coming up to me and saying ‘that wasn't a very good weekend',” Bird told
Crash.net. “It isn't where I wanted to finish, to be honest it was damage limitation after qualifying, so to come away with two sixth places was good and I have twelve points from it. Unfortunately I've dropped to third in the standings but it wasn't a circuit we were strong at and I'm looking forward to
Thruxton.
“It was so close here so if you have a slight problem it will put you between sixth and tenth on the grid. I did have a slight problem and wasn't totally happy and also the switch of tyres following the Masters was quite hard for me. It took me too long to get back to the grip of the Avons again and it was a difficult weekend but I'm through it now.”
With just three race meetings left and with Marko Asmer having one hand on the title, Bird and Engel look set to dice for second place and Bird admitted he was relishing the fight.
“It's going to be a close fight but it will be clean and fair,” he said. “I respect him as a driver and I think he is very good and fast it will be tough to beat him but I will give it my all. Also we are aiming to close the gap to Marko to make it more respectable so we are working together but also fighting as one of us has to get second in the championship.
“He is a fair driver, I consider myself to be one too and it will be an interesting battle.”
