Gallery Results 2015 05 May Silverstone Historic GP
16th-17th May 2015 - Silverstone Historic GP
Thompson and Armer share the Silverstone wins
By any measure, the opening two rounds of the Historic Formula 3 Championship were a big success. A fabulous grid, great racing, a double-header on the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit and two winners made it a fine way to start the 2015 championship schedule.
After a pair of 20-minute races, the combined winning margin across the opening two rounds was less than a second as Peter Thompson (Brabham BT21) and Simon Armer (March 703) shared the wins and second places.
Qualifying on Saturday morning was interrupted by a red flag and it was Francois Derossi (Chevron B17) who narrowly pipped Steve Seaman (Brabham BT21) for pole in the superb 31-car field. Roland Fischer (Tecno) made it three marques in the top three grid positions, with the three drivers covered by less than a quarter of a second over the 3.6-mile lap.
Frenchman Derossi was soon in the midst of a four-way contest for the opening race, but oil dropped on the track was to make conditions very tricky. Ian Bankhurst spun his Alexis in the ‘loop’ and dropped from sixth to tenth and early leader Steve Seaman was next to spin his Brabham BT21. Instead, the similar car of Thompson took a handy lead as Derossi, Fischer and Armer chased.
It was real nip-and-tuck stuff until Derossi spun at Luffield and delayed Fischer, which allowed Thompson and Armer to break clear. That was how they finished with Fischer third and recovering spinners Derossi and Bankhurst next home. “I wasn’t sure where I was so I just kept going,” said Armer. “There was a lot of oil down and Peter drove very well.”
James King (Chevron B17) took sixth ahead of category newcomer Sam Wilson at the wheel of the ex-Nigel Winchester U2 Mk3 before the Brabhams of Mark Linstone and Christoph Widmer. Marcus Mussa rounded out the top ten in his Tecno.
Armer was able to turn the tables on Thompson in the second race on Sunday, although Derossi was missing from the grid after pulling off at Becketts on the parade lap.
Both Fischer and Thompson took turns to lead during the early laps before Armer edged the March into the lead. King, who beat Armer in the near dead-heat at Goodwood in March, was also up there until his Chevron B17 started to misfire and he was forced to retire.
By mid-race Armer seemed to have broken the tow, but Fischer, Bankhurst and Thompson had other ideas and started to close him down. However, there was more oil down and Fischer had a high-speed spin at Copse to leave Thompson and Bankhurst chasing Armer to the flag, with the March winning by just over half a second.
“It was looking quite easy at one point, but then I could see Peter getting closer and closer,” said Armer. “Simon deserved that one today,” said Thompson. “I made a few mistakes and there was a lot of oil at Copse.” Bankhurst completed the podium ahead of the recovering Fischer, while Linstone had a strong run to fifth and Seaman took sixth from Widmer.
After struggling with set-up, Keith Messer had a better run on Sunday to work the Vesey up to eighth from the Brabhams of Leif Bosson and James Timms. Despite the rigours of two races on the Grand Prix circuit, an impressive 27 cars started the second race and 22 of them took the flag, all on the same lap as the race winner.
Paul Lawrence
