Sims scores superb wet win
By Ben Anderson Sunday, May 2nd 2010, 10:36 GMT
Alexander Sims, ART, Silverstone 2010Alexander Sims scored a superb result on his British Formula 3 debut weekend, by winning a wet reversed grid race at Silverstone this morning.
The Briton's ART team has struggled for pace for much of the weekend in the dry, but Sims looked unstoppable in wet conditions.
The 2008 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner worked his way through from 11th on the grid to fifth by the end of the first lap, moved up to second by the end of the following tour and then quickly closed down early leader Gabriel Dias (Hitech).
The pair swapped positions for a couple of laps before Sims made it stick at the Vale on lap five. From there, he streaked away to win by more than eight seconds.
Dias took a career-best second place, just over a second clear of Daisuke Nakajima (Raikkonen Robertson) and Esteban Gutierrez (ART).
Another superbly combative first lap from the Japanese elevated him from sixth on the grid to second, which became third as Sims charged through the pack.
Gutierrez circulated within half a second of Nakajima for the entire second half of the race, but couldn't find a way past.
Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne took a relatively muted fifth. After struggling to find a way by Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar early on, the Frenchman had to repel a last-lap challenge from another team-mate, Adriano Buzaid, to secure his result.
Jaafar finished a distant seventh, eight tenths clear of Carlos Huertas (Raikkonen Robertson), while yesterday's winner James Calado recovered to ninth after a mid-race spin dropped him out of the top six.
Raikkonen Robertson's Felipe Nasr climbed from the back of the grid to complete the top 10, while Menasheh Idafar (T-Sport), who crashed into the back of Nasr on yesterday's green flag lap, made up for his indiscretion by taking the National Class honours in 16th overall.
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1. Alexander Sims ART D/M 22m13.659s
2. Gabriel Dias Hitech D/V + 8.288s
3. Daisuke Nakajima Raikkonen Robertson D/M + 9.386s
4. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M + 9.441s
5. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin D/V + 12.679s
6. Adriano Buzaid Carlin D/V + 12.949s
7. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin D/V + 22.506s
8. Carlos Huertas Raikkonen Robertson D/M + 23.309s
9. James Calado Carlin D/V + 26.829s
10. Felipe Nasr Raikkonen Robertson D/M + 27.874s
11. Alex Brundle T-Sport D/V + 29.467s
12. Jim Pla ART D/M + 29.589s
13. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/M + 29.696s
14. Lucas Foresti Carlin D/V + 42.212s
15. Jay Bridger Litespeed D/M + 42.816s
16. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport D/H + 46.798s
17. James Cole T-Sport D/H + 48.800s
18. Luiz Razia West-Tec D/H + 58.023s
19. Rio Haryanto CF/Manor D/M + 1m19.430s
20. Hywel Lloyd CF/Manor D/M + 1m32.336s
Retirements:
William Buller Hitech D/V 9 laps
Oliver Webb Fortec D/M 8 laps
Maxim Snegirev Fortec D/M 1 lap
Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin D/V 0 laps
Adderly Fong Sino Vision D/M 0 laps
