Piccione, Piquet take maiden F3 wins at Knockhill.

Clivio Piccione and Nelson Piquet Jr converted their pole positions to maiden victories at Knockhill today [Sunday] in rounds seven and eight of the 2003 British F3 Championship gripped by Avon Tyres.

Piccione was almost nonchalant about his success in the first race. "It wasn't that hard. I had the lead from the start," he said. "Every lap I went quicker and quicker and I'm really confident now."

Piccione, Piquet take maiden F3 wins at Knockhill.

Clivio Piccione and Nelson Piquet Jr converted their pole positions to maiden victories at Knockhill today [Sunday] in rounds seven and eight of the 2003 British F3 Championship gripped by Avon Tyres.

Piccione was almost nonchalant about his success in the first race. "It wasn't that hard. I had the lead from the start," he said. "Every lap I went quicker and quicker and I'm really confident now."

His race had been pretty straightforward, and even the one-lap intervention of the safety car in the early stages couldn't knock him off course. Piquet gradually fell away, complaining afterwards of oversteer. "Piccione was very fast," he conceded.

Behind the lead pair the racing was among the best of the year. Menu F3's Rob Austin made a superb start and grabbed third but before too long he was unable to locate a gear lower than fourth and thus forced to retire.

Jamie Green was the big loser in first corner Carlin confusion. He was the only one of the quartet forced to retire but Alan van der Merwe collected damage to his front wing. "Jamie spun at the first corner in a bit of a chain reaction and I couldn't avoid him," reckoned the championship leader.

Richard Antinucci and Ronnie Bremer carried on unscathed, the American having a lonely race. Bremer, however, was harried by ADR's Will Davison as the race drew on, the Australian having started ninth. "The car's very good in race trim," confirmed the Croft winner. van der Merwe came home sixth.

In the afternoon event Piquet became the youngest ever winner of a British F3 Championship race, leading from lights to flag. No one even came close to touching the Brazilian who hopes the win will lead to better things.

"I think it is the beginning of a good time for us and I think we're going to win very many more races," he said after being presented with the trophy by his three-time World Champion father.

Fellow front row man Antinucci was second until he spun the place away at the hairpin on the seventh lap, allowing team mate Green to move up a place. "The last three weekends we have had problems in the first race but I've managed to show some fighting spirit and come back in the second," he reckoned.

An ever-present threat was Irishman Michael Keohane who himself showed some of that spirit as he tried to take the place away from the Englishman. With the race red-flagged early due to a stranded car, van der Merwe claimed fourth from Davison and Robert Dahlgren, who spun in the first race.

The first Scholarship contest was fairly straightforward with Steven Kane [T-Sport] having started well ahead of his rivals on the combined grid. "I should have got a better start but I couldn't see the lights for Antinucci's wing," he said as explanation for his slight slip down the order.

The Northern Ireland driver opted to drive his own race rather than mix it with the Championship contenders. Ernesto Viso nabbed second from Karun Chandhok at the hairpin.

It was more or less the same story later on, with Kane again beating P1 Motorsport's Viso and Christian England inheriting third for Promatecme after Chandhok spun off.

Despite a relatively lacklustre weekend van der Merwe leaves Scotland with a healthy 26-point advantage over Green. With a pair of good results Piquet Jr vaults up two third, albeit 20 points shy of Green. Kane takes over at the helm of the Scholarship Class as the teams head to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in two weeks time.

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