One-Litre F3 Historic Racing Association

21st October 2018 - Silverstone National

Milicevic Finishes with another Win

Jon Milicevic added a final win to his campaign in the 2018 Historic Formula 3 Championship title with victory on home ground at Silverstone on Sunday (21 October).

Close after the double-header at Dijon, the season concluded at the HSCC Championship Finals Meeting with a single race on the National circuit. Although Milicevic had already secured the title, he headed entry for the 15th and final race of the season.

However it was Andrew Hibberd (Brabham BT18) who took pole in qualifying on Sunday morning by a tenth of a second from Milicevic in his BT21B. Michael Scott (BT28) was third from Andy Jarvis (March 703) as Michael Hibberd joined his son on the grid in fifth slot. Hibberd senior was racing the ex-James Claridge Tecno, now owned by Harindra da Silva and some gearbox problems in qualifying were resolved in time for the race.

Although the bright sunshine had faded by the time the race started, the track was still dry as the field lined up. With an excellent start, Milicevic immediately took the upper hand and settled into a lead he would never lose over 20 minutes and 19 laps.

Hibberd slotted into second but had a quick half-spin on the exit of Brooklands. The ex-Chris Irwin Brabham didn’t lose much time, but so closely bunched was the next group that Hibberd was bundled right down to ninth place. While Milicevic made good his escape, Hibberd set about recovering lost ground.

While Hibberd fought back into contention, which included catching and passing his father Michael, the battle for second between Scott and Jarvis was keeping everyone occupied. Going better than ever, Jarvis got ahead of Scott at one point while Simon Armer (March 703), the Brabham BT21s of Mark Linstone and Steve Seaman and the Chevron B15C of Martyn Halliday were battling over sixth place.

Scott was back ahead of Jarvis when the Brabham racer missed a gear heading into Woodcote and the closely following March had to dart to the left to avoid contact. Meanwhile, Hibberd was catching them both and was able to nip through and recover second place in the closing laps.

Up front, Milicevic reeled off the remaining laps to score his 12th win from 13 races this season. Hibberd claimed second place but that was not quite enough to beat Scott to the championship runner-up slot as Scott held off Jarvis to complete the podium.

Hibberd senior took fifth as Armer edged away from the battling Linstone and Seaman, while Halliday had a good run to ninth and was still well in touch with the duelling Brabhams.

Milicevic said: “Apart from one car failure at Brands, we’ve had a great run. But I was disappointed that Andrew dropped back early on as it would have been a good dice.” Hibberd added: “You’ve got to make life eventful for yourself!”

Scott, the championship runner-up said: “I sneaked it! I was trying to work it out but you’re not sure when you are in the car. Andy drove really well and he nearly went into the back of me when I missed a gear. So I put a bit more effort in and it paid off.”

Paul Lawrence

View Results and Timings (as a PDF document) [PDF]