van der Merwe takes Silverstone victory.

British Formula Three Championship leader Alan van der Merwe scored his first race win since Croft, beating Carlin colleague Richard Antinucci in round ten of the 2003 series at Silverstone.

Although winning the second race of the weekend was the South African's stated intent after qualifying, he was still slightly surprised to be standing on top of the podium, especially after such a dominant 5.3secs victory.

"After yesterday, I was doubting whether we were going to do it," van der Merwe admitted, "The car seemed much better yesterday, but I think yesterday's tyres must have been knackered!"

There had been much speculation before the start that van der Merwe, who started the race second, might have actually been in a better position than Nelson Piquet Jr, who started on pole, to get away well. But that proved academic when Nelsinho lost second gear and a handful of places at the start, and van der Merwe was able to take advantage.

"I think I heard his gearbox break," the South African reckoned, "But I was still wondering whether I could stay at the front. As it was, I pushed away quite easily in the first quarter of the race and eased off after that."

Antinucci had a pretty solid run to second place but, in the early stages, a determined Adam Carroll challenged him. After a grassy moment through Becketts, fourth place man Jamie Green got ahead of Carroll into Stowe, and the Irishman knew that immediate action was required.

"I knew that if I didn't get him back going into Vale, I wouldn't get him at all," said the recently signed Menu F3 driver, who promptly spun in his efforts to pass the Englishman. He finished twelfth.

Green's stay in third place was a short one, for Carroll's team-mate Rob Austin, who admitted making a poor start, was on a charge.

"Jamie went a little wide into Luffield, so I went inside him, but he closed the door," Austin explained, "I had the run to the first corner though, and carried the momentum on the way to Becketts. I dummied to the left and passed him on the right."

Green retained fourth place, ahead of former Formula Renault team-mate Danny Watts in fifth. In the middle of the race, Watts came under significant pressure from Piquet, who was recovering from his poor start, but managed to hold on to his position.

"I would say this was an average weekend," said the Brazilian, despite winning Sunday's race.

T-Sport were again the strongest outfit in the Scholarship class, with Karun Chandhok just winning from Steven Kane.

"It was more hard work than the first race," reckoned the Indian driver, "I think maybe I had a flat spot on a tyre because I was getting massive vibrations, and I got caught up by a couple of class A cars as well."

Chandhok is now looking forward to a few weeks off before the next race at Castle Combe.

"I'm going back to India for a little while, and it is excellent to go home with this result," beamed the champagne-soaked driver.

Ernesto Viso (P1 Motorsport) was second in class for a while, but was eliminated by contact from Stefano Fabi and Billy Asaro.

The net result of the weekend is that very little changes at the top of the points, with van der Merwe still holding a decent lead over Green and Piquet. The next race, which takes place in four weeks time, is at Castle Combe, and should be a happy 'homecoming' for the South African.

"I had my first win there last year, so I'm looking forward to it," he smiled.