British F3 International Series

A GOOD START FOR T-SPORT
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Rounds 1, 2 & 3: Oulton Park

Brackley, UK – 7 April 2010: T-Sport’s first race meeting of the 2010 season took place at Oulton Park this Easter weekend, delivering two top ten finishes for Alex Brundle and National Class wins for Menasheh Idafar and James Cole, with Cole leading this class after the opening rounds.
 
This was Alex’s first F3 event and also the first time British F3 had run to its new regulations.  The team was content with Alex’s performance during qualifying and he was unlucky to catch traffic during the last two laps on a drying track.  His second fastest lap set his grid position for race one, which was 11th, and his fastest time put him ninth on the grid for Monday’s feature race.  In race one he got away well off the line, taking a couple of positions but was then tipped into a spin at the Shell Hairpin which put him right down the field.  He recovered to 15th by the end of the race, which also set his grid position for race two.
 
Alex got a fantastic start on the damp track in race two and put in a mature drive in difficult conditions, taking tenth place at the chequered flag.  Again in race three he drove well, securing ninth place and taking his second top ten finish of the weekend.

The National Class battle between Menasheh and James resulted in two wins for the Bahraini and one win for Cole, with Cole leading the class by a slight three-point advantage. Menasheh set the benchmark in qualifying for the pairing, setting pole for the first and third races (with race two using a semi-reverse grid set from the results of race one).  He converted the first of these into a win and backed up this success with another class win in the second sprint-format race. James, in only his first race weekend of a ‘slicks and wings’ formula car, drove well to finish 12th overall in the first race, but spun out and into retirement in the second of the three races.  The final race of the weekend, a 26-lap feature race, produced the first win for James, with Menasheh having been forced to retire with accident damage from a first lap incident.   
 
“Overall we’re content with the performance of all of our drivers at Oulton Park,” said T-Sport Team Principal, Russell Eacott. “We were a bit disappointed after qualifying but Alex made amends with his race pace.  His performance is good, he just needs more miles under his belt and that is why he is in F3.  Menasheh had a good start to his season, showing good race pace and challenging some of the more experienced National Class drivers. James also had a solid start and is learning quickly how to handle a more powerful, aerodynamic car, and it was good to see him win race three.  It would be good to have some competition in the national class but you can’t take anything away from these two guys. They are trying to get as close to the A class pace as possible and out-qualified some of them.  We’re looking forward now to running on the Silverstone GP Circuit in a few weeks’ time.”