MSV Formula 3 Racing Results : 2011

Anglesey | 10th-11th September 2011

Race Report Anglesey 10th-11th September 2011 The team was set to run in six 20 minute sessions on the Friday test day. Unfortunately, as Dave left the pits on the first lap of the day, his engine went onto three cylinders. So he brought it straight back into the pits. The problem couldn't be determined immediately, so Pete and Alistair of FISA Racing set to work, and soon the engine was out of the car and stripped down. It was found that a valve spring had broken allowing the valve to drop into the piston. The spare parts were sourced, but didn't arrive at the remote circuit until that evening. Dave's engineers had the engine rebuilt in time for qualifying the next morning.

The track was wet when the cars went out for qualifying. Karaskas was holding 3rd place for most of the session, but the track surface was drying rapidly. When Dave felt it was dry enough to change to slick tyres, he saw by his pit board that there was only 3 minutes remaining of the session, too late to change. Unfortunately his team had misjudged the time left, and 3 mins. was left on Dave's board for the next three laps. So he could have changed tyres had he known. He held onto 4th spot until the last lap when he dropped to 6th place on the grid.

The circuit is situated on top of the cliffs on the west coast of Anglesey. Both races were held in gale force winds, which made driving very tricky.

Race one was held in dry conditions. Karaskas dropped to 7th place at the start when Neil Harrison got a better start. Dave toughed it out round the outside of the first banked hairpin and the two cars were side by side going into the next corner. A fast right called 'Church'. Karaskas on the outside had a faster entry and claimed the racing line to take 6th place. A couple of laps later, he was able to outbrake and pass Stuart Wiltshire into 5th place. Chris Needham then spun off at the banked hairpin, promoting Dave to 4th. He then came under pressure from Nick Robinson. Then with Karaskas defending the inside of a corner, Nick tried to go round the outside and spun off and got stranded, bringing out the safety car. When the race went 'green' again, the cars had closed up and on the last lap Chris Needham was in 5th place. Karaskas seeing his yellow and white car, thought it was Stuart Wiltshire in a similar coloured car, so Chris was able to slip through on the last corner of the race, demoting Dave to 5th place.

Race two started in heavy rain. As the red lights went out, Dave's car initially got away well, but as the wheels stopped spinning the engine bogged down and stalled. His car won't start without a slave battery connected to it. Although the marshals tried bump starting it. It wasn't until Dave's engineer jumped over the pit wall and plugged in the spare battery that the engine would fire up. By then Karaskas was about three quarters of a lap down. He set about catching up and was soon passing cars, until going onto the last lap; he had got up to 6th place. Then with two corners to go he was lapped by leader, Aaron Steele. This denied him the chance to catch an ailing Stuart Wiltshire in 5th place.

All in all, a good recovery drive through the field. It was a shame about stalling at the start because Dave's lap times, showed he was competitive and may well have earned a place on the podium.