Jaime Alguersuari regained a share of the lead in the British F3 International Series after taking a win and fourth place in the latest double-header at Brands Hatch to overcome the one-point deficit he entered the weekend with.
The Spaniard defied the fact that he was making his first visit to the Kent circuit, and the fact that the meeting was taking place on the daunting Grand Prix layout, to produce a commanding performance in race one.
As the lights went out, Alguersuari made the most of a pole position handed to him by penalties elsewhere to effortlessly pull away from the field. Even Carlin team-mate Oliver Turvey, who made a lightening start from third to pass Atte Mustonen and slot into second by Paddock Hill, could not live with the leader's pace, as Alguersuari dominated the early stages, setting a new lap record on lap five.
The young Red Bull-backed driver was already 9.3secs ahead of the rest when the safety car appeared on lap 14 to clear up an accident involving Ultimate's Ali Jackson. Although the field circulated at reduced pace for some time, with Alguersuari's lead eradicated, the medical team was still attending to the Briton for some time, leading to the decision to throw the red flag with three minutes of the allotted race time remaining.
“I'm really pleased to win here," Alguersuari admitted, "It's the first time I've been to
Brands Hatch, and we had the pace and the car so that I was able to push really hard in the first few laps, build up a good gap from Oli and drive the car without making any mistakes. The end of the race was not so nice, as it's never nice to see another driver injured, and we all hope he is okay.”
Turvey took second place, having found himself in no man's land between his team-mate and third-placed Mustonen, while the other Carlin cars, of Brendon Hartley and Sam Abay, fought to overcome post-qualifying penalties.
