Silverstone II: Series race 2 report

Buzaid snatches pit stop race victory at Silverstone

Brazilian racer Adriano Buzaid this morning became the ninth different race winner of the 2010 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series, the Carlin driver snatching a brilliant win in the pit-stop sprint race on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Buzaid's storming pre-stop lap was the key to his victory ahead of early leader and pole position man Carlos Huertas. James Cole timed his pit stop to perfection to claim the National class win.

Huertas made an impeccable start in his Mercedes-powered Raikkonen Robertson racer to build a handy two-second lead over Buzaid in the early stages. The Colombian pitted from the front on the seventh lap, with Buzaid opting to stay on track for a further two laps before making his pit visit. Adriano kept the hammer down while Huertas pitted, gained a second on him in pit lane and emerged back on track a whisker in front.

It was Buzaid's first win of the season and his maiden victory for Carlin. "It's been a year since my last win," said Adriano, "although I have been pushing hard all season. Today we did a fantastic job... and it was more down to the team than me. I was second before the pit stops and I came out leading. They told me to push at the right time and they called me in at the right time. The strategy worked out really well, and big thanks to Carlin."

Huertas was pleased enough with second but disappointed not to have won. "I don't know why they called me so early to the pits. We should have maybe waited a lap."

Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne snatched third from the grasp of Huertas's team-mate Felipe Nasr with a daring manoeuvre at Vale on his out lap, with Saturday Silverstone victor James Calado fifth ahead of his Carlin team-mate Rupert Svendsen-Cook.

Oliver Webb, Jazeman Jaafar, Hywel Lloyd and Daniel McKenzie rounded out the top 10, with Carlos Munoz 11th and the leading Invitation class finisher.

In the National class, Menasheh Idafar pitted on the second lap while James Cole ploughed on and stopped on the eighth; the Liverpudlian led the class for T-Sport before his stop and after, beating Idafar to the line by seven-tenths, with Motul Team West-Tec's Juan Carlos Sistos a lonely third in class.

"We didn't get to make a proper pit stop in the race at Rockingham," said James, "so we had to do a lot of practice yesterday, and it worked. We would have liked to have pitted earlier and got some clear air but it all worked out really well in the end."

-source: bf3