Calado Is Silverstone History Maker

James Calado created motorsport history this afternoon (Sat), claiming the first-ever race win on the new Silverstone Arena Grand Prix circuit. Calado's victory came in round four of the 2010 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, James ensuring his place in the record books thanks to his determination to keep Oli Webb behind him all the way from pole position to chequered flag.

James Calado celebrates his maiden F3 win Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Carlin driver Calado was fulsome in his praise of the new 3.67-mile track, which was ceremonially opened by the Duke of York on Thursday. "It's my new favourite circuit, and it's a great honour to be the first Arena GP winner."

It was James's maiden British F3 win, the fourth in succession for Carlin and Volkswagen, and promotes the 21-year-old from Pershore to sixth overall in the championship.

Calado made a great start from his first British F3 pole position, keeping Knutsford-based Fortec driver Webb behind him on the all-important opening lap. James established the new circuit outright lap record on the second lap, and lowered it again on lap five, but could not shake his determined pursuer. A small mid-race error allowed Webb to narrow Calado's advantage to four-tenths, but James kept his head to win.

"It's a fantastic result for me," he said. "We struggled a bit in testing yesterday but I put in two perfect laps in qualifying, which was really important for me; we got the car right and I got two poles out of it. I got a great start in the race, was able to keep the lead and to start edging away from Oli.

"I had a problem with a little bit of understeer and I made a mistake one lap when the front left locked up going into the hairpin, and that allowed Oli to catch me up and we had a big battle, which was entertaining and a bit nerve-wracking, but I managed to keep the position. Then I had to keep my cool and concentrate on staying ahead to the flag."

Webb was just over a second adrift at the line. "It was a very close race, a bit of déjà vu from last year when I raced against James in Formula Renault. Great fun. I had a few goes but unfortunately I couldn't find a way past. The new circuit is good, and definitely promotes overtaking. It was good for us to race on it first and good for the spectators."

Oulton Park double victor Jean-Eric Vergne was unable to find his way past Raikkonen Robertson racer Daisuke Nakajima, who made an excellent start from sixth on the grid to slot into third on the opening lap, and had to settle for fourth. The Frenchman's championship lead over Webb is cut to 12 points.

Like his team-mate Nakajima, Carlos Huertas made a good start to pick up places on the first lap, and then the Colombian held off a race-long challenge from Mexico's Esteban Gutierrez to claim fifth at the chequered flag. Jazeman Jaafar took seventh for Carlin, ahead of Gabriel Dias, Adriano Buzaid and Rupert Svendsen-Cook, with British F3 debutant Alexander Sims 11th for ART and Hitech's Will Buller claiming the final championship point in 12th.

The National class was depleted by a third on the warm-up lap when Menasheh Idafar cannoned his T-Sport Dallara into the back of a stationary Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian's car having expired on the grid. Both cars were badly damaged but neither driver was hurt.

That left Idafar's team-mate James Cole to keep Motul Team West-Tec driver Luiz Razia behind him for the duration to claim his second class win of the season and increase his class points lead.

Tomorrow's 20-minute 'sprint' race will see Calado start from eighth on the grid, with Dias on the pole, just as he was at Oulton Park.

British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and Mirror.co.uk.

Cooper Tires British F3 International Series
Round 4 Silverstone 1/5/2010 14 laps = 51.33 miles

Provisional results

1  James CALADO           GBR,  Carlin    Dallara-Volkswagen   27m 01.234s
2  Oli WEBB               GBR,  Fortec    Dallara-Mercedes         +1.015s
3  Daisuke NAKAJIMA       JPN,  RR        Dallara-Mercedes         +2.143s
4  Jean-Eric VERGNE       FRA,  Carlin    Dallara-Volkswagen       +3.308s
5  Carlos HUERTAS         COL,  RR        Dallara-Mercedes         +6.180s
6  INV Esteban GUTIERREZ  MEX,  ART       Dallara-Mercedes         +6.921s
7  Jazeman JAAFAR         MAS,  Carlin    Dallara-Volkswagen       +8.613s
8  Gabriel DIAS           BRA,  Hitech    Dallara-Volkswagen       +9.448s
9  Adriano BUZAID         BRA,  Carlin    Dallara-Volkswagen      +10.852s
10  Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK  GBR,  Carlin    Dallara-Volkswagen      +16.711s etc

Fastest lap: Calado 1m 54.731s / 114.86mph Est Rec

National class

1  James COLE             GBR,  T-Sport   Dallara-Mugen Honda     +44.234s
2  Luiz RAZIA             BRA,  West-Tec  Dallara-Mugen Honda     +49.808s


Invitation class

1  Gutierrez
2  Alexander SIMS  GBR,  ART Dallara-Mercedes  +17.375s
3  Jim PLA         FRA,  ART Dallara-Mercedes  +32.698s



Provisional championship standings

1  Vergne          60 points; 
2  Webb            48; 
3  Svendsen-Cook   32; 
4  Nakajima        31; 
5  Buzaid          30; 
6  Calado          27; 
7  Huertas         26; 
8  Dias            18; 
9  Jaafar          14; 
10 Daniel McKenzie  7 etc.
                                        
                                        
National class

1 Cole            57;
2 Menasheh Idafar 33; 
3 Razia           15.

Next rounds: Silverstone, 2 May 

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