British F3: Jewiss and Hoggard Coming of Age at Brands

Kiern Jewiss and Johnathan Hoggard were the men of the weekend at Brands Hatch as a 1-2 by both in the main BRDC British F3 Championship races set the tone over the August Bank Holiday.

For Douglas Motorsport’s Jewiss, it was a long time coming as the 2018 British F4 champion has finally won his first race of the year. Jewiss’ golden weekend sees him leap to fourth in the standings and ensures that three of the top four are graduates from last years British F4.

For Douglas it carries over from their 2018 success at this circuit in which Jamie Chadwick became the first female to win a race in the series and as De Pauw secured a podium with Jewiss in race three, all eyes were on the Douglas crew.

Qualifying was the story of Johnathan Hoggard. The Fortec Motorsport team had dominated Friday practice and continued their clean sweep as the Spalding driver took the fastest times to take pole for both races. He’d be joined on the front row by Kiern Jewiss, with Clement Novalak third, also in both races. The biggest surprise had been Sasakorn Chaimongkol, who lined up fourth for the opening race after a late lap saw him demote Kaylen Frederick.

The race would further add to Hoggard’s success, pulling out over a second gap at the end of the first lap. The Fortec driver was unfazed throughout, setting the fastest lap in what must have been quite a dull affair.

Instead, all eyes were on his former-F4 rival Kiern Jewiss. His knowledge of the circuit, may have helped his qualifying effort, but as the laps counted down, it was clear the Douglas Motorsport car did not have the speed of the leaders, holding up a queue of Clement Novalak, Sasakorn Chaimongkol and later Kaylen Frederick. The GP circuit proved almost impossible to pass at, with virtually no overtakes happening outside of the opening lap.

Jewiss and Hoggard continued to be the stars of Brands in race three, with Hoggard again starting in front of the 2018 British F4 champion. On this occasion though it was Jewiss who got the better start, with Hoggard bogging down and forced to defend second from Ulysse de Pauw.

From there Jewiss broke away, quickly building a gap on the first circuit. Just like in the opening race though the Douglas Motorsport driver did not quite have the raw speed of Hoggard, as the Fortec driver narrowed the gap. But again, just like the first race, a fast circuit and narrow track meant overtaking was nigh on impossible.

Good Performance, Bad Circuit

Brands Hatch had done what many thought was impossible; make an F3 race boring to watch. Both race one and three had not been the exciting features to watch and despite Hoggard’s continual pressure of Jewiss in the second, could not find the room to overtake. Brands’ circuit design aside, virtually no overtakes had occured outside of the first two laps meaning that many of the events were concluded by the first corner; even the usually dramatic reverse grid feature.

That particular second race produced the seasons tenth different winner as Nazim Azman led home the first team one-two of the year. The Malaysian has proven himself to be a strong defender at Snetterton and even with the circuits limits, surprised many by succeeding in holding off a championship contender.

Kris Wright and Pavan Ravishankar would start on the front row, but their chances of silverware came to an abrupt end at Paddock Hill, with the Double R driver turning in on Wright, causing contact and taking both out of the race. Wright, one of only two drivers to have not scored a podium this year sacrifised the race lead to Nazim Azman, the other to have not secured silverware.

Azman would lead CDR teammate Ayrton Simmons, whose bad weekend so far could finally improve as championship rivals Novalak and Hoggard languished outside the top ten. The pair would be kept honest by Josh Mason, but to the surprise of many watching, Simmons was unable to pressure the Malaysian into a mistake, allowing Azman to secure his maiden British win. It was also the first team 1-2 of the year.

After the safety car to remove the first corner incident, bets were on Neil Verhagen to jump Mason for the podium place, but despite the form, the American spent his race defending from Benjamin Pedersen and Hampus Ericsson. The Swede would eventually muscle his way into fifth, but none could get the better of Verhagen. Ulysse de Pauw and Manuel Maldonado completed the top eight. Mason’s third made it three weekends in a row the Lanan Racing driver has picked up silverware.

Now a Two Horse Fight?

Simmons’ fans will likely leave the weekend concerned that he’s once again slipping away from a title in the second half of a season. The CDR driver had been the star of Spa, but was caught out in qualifying when Hampus Ericsson hit the barrier at the exit of Westfield, bringing out the red flag. Starting eleventh Simmons was not expected to challenge for a podium, but his failure to even finish in the top ten for race one set the tone.

Race three was more promising as Simmons more favourable grid position allowed him to race up to sixth, but as Hoggard stretched his lead away and nearest challenger Jewiss had the weekend of his BRDC F3 career, he now lies closer to Jewiss on points in a lonely third.

Clement Novalak was another who could have produced far more. A third in race one after failing to depose of Jewiss was only made worse by losing out to De Pauw at the start of race three. Novalak though is making a habit of his consistency and going into the final two weekends has a 40 point lead to Hoggard. Maximising your bad weekends is an important skill for many champions, but with no win in three rounds the Carlin driver will be under pressure to perform, or have his title tainted by securing on more race finishers rather than wins.

Sasakorn Chaimongkol was eager to prove his Donington Park pace was not a one-off and while like many benefited from qualifying in the position, still maintained a comfortable gap to Kaylen Frederick in order to finish fourth in race one. Another top ten followed in race two and three as rival Ericsson and Pedersen struggled to perform.

Frederick meanwhile picked up two fifth places continuing to prove his raw pace. The American though is 51 points behind Jewiss but could theoretically be fourth had he not retired from three races. He currently sits 16 points off the battle for fifth, with Verhagen, Maldonado and Pauw covered by only 7 points.

Going into the stand-alone Silverstone round on 17-18 August, Novalak has 406 points, while Hoggard has 366.