Sam Bird was left with mixed emotions from the penultimate meeting of the British F3 International Series season after a ninth podium of the year was followed by a disappointing DNF in race two.
The Carlin man made a good start to the opening race of the weekend to climb up from sixth to fifth on the run to the first corner, where he made up two more places after Niall Breen and Maro Engel tangled.
From there, he ran in a solid third place until the retirement of new champion Marko Asmer promoted him to second with Bird harrying leader Stephen Jelley before settling for the place.
Jelley and I closed the gap on Engel with that result, he said afterwards, and I hope to be able to keep this momentum up into the second race today and on to Rockingham.
However the second race would be hit by disappointment, with suspension failure forcing him to retire for the fourth time this season.
I'm a bit gutted, he admitted. I've certainly got the pace and determination to be on the podium regularly, but I've now had several mechanical failures and coupled with a bit of bad luck, I'm now fourth in the championship and battling to regain where I was halfway through the season.
My last test at Rockingham was good, however, so I'm confident of some good results to finish off the season!
