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Qualifying, Race 1

Oulton Park, 06/05/01. Carlin Motorsport locked out the front row of the grid for race 7 of the 2001 Green Flag Formula Three Championship. Having lead the times in testing, Sato took his first pole of the year by making space on the crowded track and putting in the time went it counted.

Fortec's Gimmi Bruni qualified in sixth with Prost's Nicolas Kiesa in seventh. Promatecme's Bruce Jouanny produce is best effort of the season so far to end the session in eighth. ADR's Andy Priaulx and Manor's Mark Taylor rounded out the top ten.

In the Scholarship Class Robbie Kerr took pole position in his Fred Goddard run Dallara edging out the fast improving Carlin runner Kazuki Hoshino. Michael Keohane took his Toyota powered Dallara to third.

Qualifying, Race 2

1. Anthony Davidson 2. Matt Davies 3. Derek Hayes 4. Takuma Sato 5. Jamie Spence

Team Avanti racer Matt Davies bagged his now traditional front row slot, for at least one of the races of each double header. Davies was another driver to put in his time during the overcast, but he felt the improvements came from elsewhere, 'we ran with less fuel in the car, but managed to get a few more clear laps in and we made some changes to the set up which paid off'.

Both drivers watched the clock count down on the session from the pit lane while Takuma Sato and Derek Hayes gave it everything trying to improve their times. In the end Hayes was once again denied the front row, 'it's been a consistent day with two thirds, that gives us the inside line going down into lodge for both races, it's a two by two start here, so it's important to stay out of trouble. I'm disappointed not to be on the front row, but a win is on the cards'. Hayes edged out Sato in fourth.

Jamie Spence produced another strong performance to qualify in fifth in the Duma car. Nic Kiesa and the Prost Jnr Team improved one place on the morning session, but both drivers are still unhappy with way things are going. Milos Pavlovic was another driver to improve on his position for the first race, qualifying in seventh. Jaguar's Andre Lotterer ended the session in eighth with Mark Taylor and Andy Priaulx rounding out the top ten.

In the Scholarship Class Robbie Kerr edged out Michael Keohane and Ernani Judice.

Race 1

1. Takuma Sato 2. Gimmi Bruni 3. Anthony Davidson 4. Matt Davies 5. Bruce Jouanny

At Old Hall the leaders made it cleanly through but series leader Derek Hayes lost out badly in the melee. The mid field of the scholarship Class got caught up in a classic Old Hall incident that saw Blair, Primat and Judice out in a frightening scramble of men and machinery. Initially the Safety Car was deployed, but then the race was stopped to clear the three Dallaras.

Sato came back to the grid for the Carlin team to discover that he had a slow puncture in a rear tyre. The cars were technically being held under Parc Ferme conditions and the team were unable to touch the car. The Stewards decided to allow Carlin to change the tyre for safety reasons, but this would put Sato at a distinct disadvantage for Race 2.

At the restart Sato led the field away, but is was Fortec racing's Gimmi Bruni who made the most places on the two starts. The Italian charger, made the restart in sixth and he was in second alongside Davidson as the field powered through Cascades. At Knickerbrook Davies had joined in and the trio dived into the chicane three abreast, and it's a testimony to the skill and maturity of all three drivers that they all finished the race. Jaguar's Andre Lotterer wasn't so lucky, overshooting the chicane, and having to wait to be released by the Marshalls, which put him at the back of the field.

Bruni set off after Sato, looking likely to put him under pressure from time to time but the Japanese Ace held him off to score his second victory in succession with Bruni and Davidson rounding out the top three. In fourth Matt Davies brought home ten badly needed points. Promatecme's Bruce Jouanny had an excellent run to fifth followed by ADR's Andy Priaulx who made three places up to sixth, to head home Hayes, Taylor and Pavlovic to round out the top ten.

In the Scholarship Class Robbie Kerr headed home Kazuki Hoshino and Robert Doornbos. Championship leader Matthew Gilmore came home in fourth.

Race 2

1. Takuma Sato 2. Matt Davies 3. Anthony Davidson 4. Derek Hayes 5. Jamie Spence

Matt Davies got the drop on pole sitter Anthony Davidson and dived into Old Hall with Davidson and Sato right with him. The Avanti racer ran a little wide on the exit and Sato got the run down the Avenue, at Cascades Sato was alongside and with a breath taking move made it into the corner ahead and clear of Davies.

Sato, 'it's been very good this weekend for us, nice and steady, very cool. The second race for me was a bit hard. We had the tyre problem, but this circuit gave me a good opportunity. Side by side is like third on the grid not fourth. I make a really good start again and was side by side with Davies at the first corner. I let him go this time as he was inside and I couldn't see the exit of the corner. Into Cascades I moved to the inside and passed him it was fantastic. I'm very happy, very pleased'. Sato's move was perhaps the move of the year so far.

In second Davies drove consistent laps bringing Avanti another podium finish, 'I caught the grass on the exit of the first corner and had to lift a bit. Sato got up alongside going into Cascades and I knew he wasn't going to back off, so I didn't turn in. I didn't want a repeat of last weekend, but what can I say the guy drove a storming first two corners and it won him the race'. With a second and a fourth in Round 4, it has been the most profitable meeting so far for Davies giving him more points over a weekend than he has so far scored.

In scoring his second third place of the day Anthony Davidson did his part to stamp Carlin Motorsport's dominance on the meeting. The young Carlin charger, 'two lousy starts and I've got to work on it. But as my engineer said, if they had told me I would be leaving with two third places on the podium, a pole position and a third place on the grid, I would have bitten their arm of for it'.

Derek Hayes came home in fourth, enough to keep him in second place in the standings only four places adrift of the new leader Sato. Spence scored another good result but is still be hampered by a lack of testing data, one of the side effects of running a one car team.

ADR's Andy Priaulx made the most of a difficult weekend that saw him score two sixth place finishes and finish the weekend in fifth in the Championship standings. 'Two good points finishes this weekend and I think consistency is going to be key this year, there is still a lot of races to go. Clearly, we've got to try and improve the car combination to get the performance better. We've got a three-week break before the next meeting and we're going to be working hard on it'.

Team Avanti's Milos Pavlovic and Nicolas Kiesa finished the race in seventh and eighth with Gimmi Bruni and Mark Taylor rounding out the top ten.

In the Scholarship Class Robbie Kerr scored his second victory of the day, heading home Michael Keohane and Kazuki Hoshino.

Championship Class Standings

Scholarship Class Standings

Archived Reports

Round 3, Donington Park, 29/04/01

Round 3, Preview Donington Park, 24/04/01

Round 2, Snetterton, 15/04/01

Round 1, Silverstone, 01/04/01

Pre-race round up Silverstone, 27/03/01

Pre-season testing at Oulton Park, 13/03/01

Copyright RB4 Motorsport Report 2001