Randle Wins at Spa For Douglas Motorsport
The 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship visited the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium last weekend for rounds 16,17 & 18 of the hotly contested series.
In practise both Enaam Ahmed and Thomas Randle were right on the pace with the duo second and third respectively in the first session before topping the timesheets in both Practise two and Practise three.
Unfortunately luck was not with the Douglas Motorsport pairing in qualifying as they failed to pick up a tow, crucial to the F3 cars on the high speed Grand Prix circuit, relegating Ahmed to fifth and Randle to seventh.
In the opening race, Ahmed drove well to finish fourth just over two seconds behind the winner, but Randle dropped to the back of the field after contact with another car sent him spinning, recovering to ninth by the flag.
Things were to get a lot better for Randle in race two however, as he immediately leaped from his ninth position starting position to cross the line at the end of the first lap in an impressive fourth place. Next on his list was his Douglas Motorsport team mate Ahmed and after a great battle, he finally slipstreamed by to take third on the Kemmel straight. Clearly fired up, he then snatched second place and began to close down longtime leader Toby Sowery. On the final lap he was close enough and replicated his earlier move to take the lead on the Kemmel straight, holding on to take his second British F3 win of the year. Emaam was right in the mix too, crossing the line in fourth place and only missing the final podium spot by two tenths of a second.
In the third and final race, Randle again battled mightily, eventually crossing the line in 5th place for some more valuable championship points whilst Ahmed was unfortunate enough to lose a wing after contact. He pitted and the team fitted a new one but the opportunity to make further progress was gone.
Unfortunately luck was not with the Douglas Motorsport pairing in qualifying as they failed to pick up a tow, crucial to the F3 cars on the high speed Grand Prix circuit, relegating Ahmed to fifth and Randle to seventh.
In the opening race, Ahmed drove well to finish fourth just over two seconds behind the winner, but Randle dropped to the back of the field after contact with another car sent him spinning, recovering to ninth by the flag.
Things were to get a lot better for Randle in race two however, as he immediately leaped from his ninth position starting position to cross the line at the end of the first lap in an impressive fourth place. Next on his list was his Douglas Motorsport team mate Ahmed and after a great battle, he finally slipstreamed by to take third on the Kemmel straight. Clearly fired up, he then snatched second place and began to close down longtime leader Toby Sowery. On the final lap he was close enough and replicated his earlier move to take the lead on the Kemmel straight, holding on to take his second British F3 win of the year. Emaam was right in the mix too, crossing the line in fourth place and only missing the final podium spot by two tenths of a second.
In the third and final race, Randle again battled mightily, eventually crossing the line in 5th place for some more valuable championship points whilst Ahmed was unfortunate enough to lose a wing after contact. He pitted and the team fitted a new one but the opportunity to make further progress was gone.
Thomas Randle now lies 3rd in the title chase, with Enaam Ahmed in 5th with 6 rounds still to run.
Thomas Randle: “‘It was a challenging weekend at the beginning with the qualifying not going our way and being turned around in race one, but to bounce back really strong on Saturday with a win in race 2 and a fifth place in race 3 with good pace and not losing any ground to the championship leader left me feeling really positive and now I’m really looking forward to Snetterton.”
Wayne Douglas, Team Principal, Douglas Motorsport: “All in all the team is really happy, we have had both drivers win 2 races (on the road anyway) and go into the last two rounds with both drivers fighting for top 3 finishes in the championship.”
The next round of the 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo takes place at Snetterton on 6/7 August.
Images from Jakob Ebrey/MSV.
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