Khani holds off Bridger for Silverstone double
22/09/12 - Lanan Racing's Kourosh Khani completed a perfect double victory as he held off a charging Jay Bridger in the second race at the famous Silverstone GP circuit today (Saturday 22 September).
The Iranian had to fight his way past Bridger at the start and despite being in the lead for the majority of the race he was unable to relax. The Omicron racer took chunks out of his lead towards the end but Khani held on to take the win from Bridger and Hamilton-Smith. Gino Ussi finished fourth ahead of his title rivals Tristan Cliffe and Chris Dittmann.
Bright sunny conditions greeted the drivers for the start and
the 50 car field all managed to get away cleanly. Bridger jumped
Khani at the start but the pole sitter fought back overtaking the
Omicron racer on the opening lap. Hamilton-Smith slotted in behind
in third with Ussi in fourth and Dittmann in fifth. Mark Bailey
Racing's Stuart Wiltshire made the best start as he surged past
Tristan Cliffe into sixth.
Wiltshire was unable to maintain his excellent pace at the
start and he soon dropped down to ninth with Cliffe moving back
into sixth in pursuit of Dittmann. However, at the front Bridger
continued to apply the pressure on Khani with the two only
separated by 1.4 seconds.
Prajesh Shah was the next man to make a move slipping into
seventh with a smart move on Chris Needham. Another driving clawing
his way through the field was Trophy Class runner Phil Austin as he
passed Frank Thomas and moved on to the back of the chasing pack of
Mark and Neil Harrison.
Khani continued to set a blistering pace slowly increasing the
gap over Bridger with Hamilton-Smith comfortably ahead of Ussi,
Dittmann and Cliffe. Austin continued his eventful race as a spin
at Stowe saw him drop back into the pack with the racy Jeremy
Timms.
Traffic once again played a part in the race and Bridger
managed to take advantage of it cutting the gap to Khani down to
eight tenths of a second. But Bridger's skill of negotiating
traffic was not enough as Khani took the chequered flag. Hamilton
Smith came home in third ahead of Ussi and Cliffe, who managed to
pass Dittmann in the closing stages. Shah continued his impressive
run in seventh finished ahead of Needham, Mark Harrison and Nick
Robinson, who rounded out the top 10.
A delighted Khani said: "It's quite good to get four wins out
of four in the F3 Cup. There was no time to relax at all due to the
traffic and that is where Jay caught me. I had too push hard again
to try an build up the gap."
A second podium more than matched Bridger's target for the
weekend, he said: "If i did the race again I couldn't have done it
much better. It was a good race and the plan was to try and keep
the gap down to Kourosh and was hoping to make a move in the
traffic. I got really close to him but just near the end I hit
traffic and he got away again. I was pleased with the car and the
team did a great job. I thought if i come in the top two I would be
happy with that before the weekend. I don't think we could have
done much batter."
Hamilton-Smith was pleased with his second podium of the
weekend, he said: "It was good. I was first of the regulars. Gino
started to catch me towards the end but I managed to hold my pace
but i think third place was the best result I could get."
F3
Cup Race Two Silverstone GP Results
1. Kourosh Khani Cup Lanan Racing 10 laps
2. Jay Bridger Cup Omicron Motorsport, +4.761s
3. Louis Hamilton-Smith Cup +11.275s
4. Gino Ussi Cup Grays Motorsport, +12.685s
5. Tristan Cliffe Cup Omicron Motorsport, +19.930s
6. Chris Dittmann Trophy Chris Dittmann Racing, +24.759s
7. Prajesh Shah Cup Chris Dittmann Racing, +37.488s
8. Chris Needham Cup DST Group Ltd, +51.897s
9. Mark Harrison, Cup, Magic Motorsport, +1.01.735s
10. Nick Robinson Cup Mark Bailey Racing, +1.03.631s
11. Neil Harrison, Cup, Magic Motorsport, +1.10.925s
12. Jeremy Timms, Trophy, +1.13.167s
13. Stuart Wiltshire Cup Mark Bailey Racing, +1.19.517s
14. Phil Austin, Trophy, +1.31.971s
15. Frank Thomas, Cup, Mark Bailey Racing, +1.47.428s
16. James Ledamun, Trophy + 1 lap
17. Dave Karaskas, Masters, Dave Karaskas Racing, +2
laps
DNS Matt Payne, Cup
DNS Fraser Smart, Trophy, Stanbridge Motorsport
DNF Jonathan Weston-Taylor, Trophy
