The Bank Holiday weekend British Formula 3 round at Snetterton produced three different winners, with Jean-Eric Vergne, Gabriel Dias and Adriano Buzaid all triumphing at the Norfolk circuit.
With rain hitting two of the three races it was a largely exciting meeting for the series, and one that provided yet more success for the dominant Carlin squad.
Race 1
Qualifying was topped by Buzaid, the Carlin driver producing best laps of 1m00.948s and 1m00.994s to secure pole for both Sunday's and Monday's feature races. He headed an all-Carlin top three, with Vergne and James Calado setting the second and third fastest times respectively.
But it was newly crowned champion Vergne who took victory in Sunday's race, the Red Bull-backed Frenchman overcoming Buzaid late in proceedings to rack up his 13th win of a dominant 2010 dominant season.
On a track soaked by a recent downpour Vergne got a good getaway to challenge poleman Buzaid on the first lap. However the Brazilian was able to successfully defend the lead from his teammate, and Vergne had soon dropped to fourth. The Raikkonen-Robertson pairing of Felipe Nasr and Daisuke Nakajima both slipped in front of the second Carlin car, whilst James Calado faded early on.
A mistake from Nakajima allowed Vergne in to third, but with Buzaid extending his lead at the front to 5 seconds, a gap which stabilised when Nasr began to match his fellow Brazilian's pace, the new champion looked unlikely to add to his win tally on this occasion.
But at around one-third distance Vergne began to peg Nasr significantly. Meanwhile Buzaid had an off-track moment at Coram, and whilst he recovered without damage his lead was halved.
With renewed impetus Vergne made light work of Nasr and set about catching his teammate, a task he achieved with apparent ease. With four laps left on the board he passed Buzaid around the outside of a damp Riches, and despite a mistake the next time he hit Coram, Vergne was untouchable. He pulled out a lead of 3.5 seconds through the next 3 laps to win from Buzaid, with Nasr completing the podium.
Behind them Ollie Webb claimed fourth, scrapping with his rival for championship runner-up spot James Calado before pulling away, with Calado eventually dropping to eighth. Behind Webb were Nakajima and Gabriel Dias, ensuring the Brazilian pole for Monday morning's sprint race.
Race 2
Another rain shower shortly before the start of the 10.40am sprint race promised more excitement- and it didn’t disappoint.
Whilst some braved slicks from the word go wets were clearly the tyres to be on in the early stages, with wet-shod poleman Dias pulling away at the front, followed by Daisuke Nakajima, Buzaid and Felipe Nasr. The highest slick runner at this stage was seventh placed Will Buller.
But by lap 8 the slicks were coming in to their own, allowing Buller to quickly eat in to the gap to the leaders. Meanwhile Buzaid passed Nakajima for second, whilst Calado was also making progress in his slick-shod Carlin machine.
Out front Dias continued to lead from Buzaid, but was given a hurry-up by Buller's progress through the field, the Hitech man now trading fastest laps with Calado. Over the closing laps Buller passed Fortec's Daniel McKenzie and the Raikkonen-Robertson pairing of Nakajima and Nasr, but time was ultimately against him. Dias was able to hold his nerve to win from Buzaid, with Buller taking his first podium finish since the Hockenheim event in May.
Nakajima came home fourth ahead of teammate Nasr and Fortec man McKenzie, with the Carlin pairing of Calado and Vergne completing the top eight.
Race 3
Dias' win in the morning race broke a streak of 10 consecutive race victories for the Carlin team, but with the Hampshire-based squad's cars once again locking out the first three positions on the grid a quick return to winning ways seemed a strong possibility.
With the on-track moisture that had provided excitement in the weekend's previous races all but gone, race 3 was something of a procession.
Buzaid got a good start, and a blistering first lap saw him pull comfortably away from teammates Vergne and Calado, with Nakajima and Nasr fourth and fifth for Raikkonen-Robertson Racing.
Behind them there was a significant moment in the battle for second in the championship, as Webb left the track at Riches and made contact with the tyre barriers. The Fortec driver's race was run, and with Calado running strong in third his hopes of finishing as runner-up to Vergne took a big knock.
Webb's exit on lap four caused the last position change in the top ten, with no further overtaking taking place between the front-runners. Out front Buzaid was slowly but surely dropping Vergne, who was himself unable to fully escape the attentions of Calado. However despite coming within three-tenths of his teammate Calado didn't threaten a move, and ultimately settled for third.
So Buzaid came home for a comfortable victory, 7.5s clear of his teammates. Behind the Carlin trio were Nakajima and Nasr, with Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) coming home sixth. Carlos Huertas (Raikkonen-Robertson), race two winner Dias, Buller and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Carlin) completed the top ten, who were covered by over 40 seconds at the flag.
With Vergne having being crowned champion last time out at Silverstone the main point of interest at next month's season closer will be the battle for second in the standings. Webb's poor weekend in Norfolk means Calado is now close to sealing this, and with Buzaid's strong performance this weekend he has now closed to within just 8 points of the third placed man. A Carlin sweep of the top three championship positions could well be on the cards when the season concludes at Brands Hatch on September 25th and 26th.
Watch 1-hour highlights from Snetterton on Sunday 5 September at 8:10pm (BST) on Motors TV.
James Weeks
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