Lundqvist extends lead while Maini impresses

Linus Lundqvist extended his lead at the top of the British Formula 3 championship, while Kush Maini showed his intent at Silverstone this weekend.

With a win and four additional podiums already under his belt heading into the Silverstone weekend, Maini had been closing in on what had seemed like a two-way fight between Lundqvist and fellow Scandinavian Nicolai Kjaergaard at the top of the championship.

Another solid performance in the fourth round of the season put Maini in the title mix, though he still lies almost a hundred points behind Lundqvist.

The chase was more than just numbers and points, however, with Maini fighting Lundqvist for victory in the opening race of the weekend. The Double R Racing driver started from pole and made a strong get away, but Maini managed to close the gap in the closing stages of the race. He put pressure on Lundqvist, attacking on a number of occasions, Lundqvist though put up a strong defence and Maini had to settle for second. He finished just 0.392s behind.

Maini was once again on attack in the final race of the weekend. Though he started on pole, Tom Gamble made the better get away and the Lanan driver dropped back to second. Maini attempted to fight back, going side by side with Gamble on the opening lap, but ran slightly wide, allowing Lundqvist to come through.

The Indian racer couldn’t repeat the same late-stage pressure he had in the opening race of the weekend, finishing 1.098s behind Lundqvist to take third, but the performance – combined with a climb up to 14th in race two – allowed him to close the gap to Kjaergaard.

It was a difficult weekend for Kjaergaard. After qualifying seventh, he could only manage sixth in the opening race of the weekend. In race three, he managed to make up two positions to fourth in the opening laps, but spent the remainder of the race defending against Jordan Cane and couldn’t close the gap to the podium positions.

Race two was Kjaergaard’s highlight of the weekend. The Carlin driver started 12th but quickly moved up through the order, joining the queue for third behind Tristan Charpentier. Both Kjaergaard and Gamble ahead of him were able to pass the Fortec driver and Kjaergaard finished fourth, but claimed eight extra points for his climb up the order.

Lundqvist also enjoyed a strong driver through the field in race two, picking up 11 bonus points for overtaking.

The difficult weekend means Kjaergaard falls to 56 points behind the championship leader and is only 41 points ahead of Maini.

Gamble was also able to close the gap to those ahead. Though he was only able to take 10th in race one, the Brit finished third in race two and claimed the victory in race three, putting him 24 points behind Maini.

Pavan Ravishankar took his first win of the season in the reverse grid race. The Double R Racing driver started from pole and was able to build a 3.461s gap to the rest of the field while Sun Yue Yang and Arvin Esmaeili battled for second. Yang finished second, his first podium of the season, while Esmaeili dropped down the order in the closing stages of the race.