Snetterton BF3: Vaidyanathan salvages top 10 finish
Ameya Vaidyanathan salvaged a 10th place finish in the third race at Snetterton as Indian drivers endured a difficult start to their BRDC British F3 campaign.
Photo by: BRDC
Earlier during the weekend, Fortec's Tarun Reddy set the pace in the Indian quartet, topping the second practice session with a time of 1m44.658s.
The Indian teen finished seventh, second and sixth in the remaining three practice sessions while Carlin's Vaidyanathan was ninth, 12th, eighth and 11th fastest.
Lanan Racing's Akhil Rabindra was 10th, 10th, 17th and 16th respectively, while the fourth Indian driver in the series, Krishnaraaj Mahadik missed the round due to school commitments.
British squad Carlin's Lando Norris topped the first and third sessions, before Ricky Collard stole the top spot from his teammate during the final 30 minutes of practice on Saturday.
In qualifying, Reddy finished an impressive third with a time of 1m44:706s, 0.136s off polesitter Norris with Collard locking the front row on Sunday.
Rabindra and Vaidyanathan qualified 17th and 19th, unable to capitalise on the pace they showed in practice.
Reddy misses, Rabindra spins in race one
The opening race took place in wet conditions, with Reddy holding his podium spot in the early stages, before dropping back after an apparent collision.
The Fortec driver held to sixth until lap four, before dropping to 17th and eventually finishing 16th, behind fellow countryman Vaidyanathan.
The two exchanged places on lap 10, but in the end, the Carlin driver came on top while Rabindra ended 19th, after surviving a spin on second lap.
Up front, Norris dominated the proceedings to win by 19.095s ahead of Double R's Aleksanteri Huovinen with Douglas' Enaam Ahmed finishing third.
Reddy crashes out in race two
The second race start was delayed due to a storm at Norfolk, it got going in the afternoon, on a wet track with rain falling.
India's Reddy and Rabindra got off the line well at the start, propelling themselves to 12th and 14th respectively after starting from 16th and 19th.
However, Reddy soon retired on lap two after crashing out along with Collard and Omar Ismail, bringing out the safety car.
Once the race resumed, Rabindra running at 10th, fell down the pack on lap eight, eventually finishing 13th, with Vaidyanathan ending a lap down at 18th, after needing to pit during the SC period.
The race was won by Double R's Matheus Leist, who charged his way from 10th with Ahmed finishing second while Lanan's Toby Sowery completed the podium.
Top 10 finish for Vaidyanathan in race three
The final race took place under sunny conditions with the grid determined on the basis of drivers’ fastest laps in the opening two races, leaving Rabindra ninth, Vaidyanathan 14th and Reddy 20th on the grid.
On the opening lap, Rabindra dropped a place to 10th and held his position for the majority of the race, before significantly dropping down the pack, with two laps to go, finishing 18th.
The slip aided Vaidyanathan to a top 10 finish as the Carlin driver ended 10th, after gradually making places during the 10-lap race.
After two difficult races, Reddy held on to finish 12th, making a steady progress in the race, including overtaking three drivers at the start.
At the front, Ahmed made it three different winners in three races, having passed pole-sitter Sowery on the outside of turn 1 with Norris picking up the final spot on the podium.
Ahmed leads the standings with 81 points while the Indian list is led by Vaidyanthan at 14th with 20 points, Reddy 18th with 14 points and Rabindra 19th on 13 points.
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