13.07.08 TWO MORE PODIUMS FOR TURVEY AT BRANDS HATCH Sunday, 13 July 2008: RSF driver Oliver Turvey stepped up to the podium twice at Brands Hatch today to keep his British F3 International title bid firmly on track and justify his newly-awarded 'Future Champion' status. The second and third place finishes in rounds 13 and 14 of the championship also strengthened the F3 graduate's position at the top of the Mirror.co.uk Challenge Cup, the recently-introduced award for the highest-placed British driver in the series. The champion-in-waiting tag had been conferred the day before qualifying courtesy of Dunhill, the men's luxury goods retailer which announced Turvey as the 2008 winner of its 'Future Champion' award (see separate story). Keen to live up to his new-won title, Turvey went out early in the first qualifying session and set a fastest lap of 1:17.699 which was duly eclipsed as the track improved. But any chance of a comeback was thwarted when waved yellows appeared at Sheene Curve and Stirling Bend following an accident. At the end of the session Turvey lay in fifth, 0.587 seconds behind pole sitter Marcus Ericsson but was later moved up the order to third. The promotion came after five drivers, including Ericsson, were adjudged to have set their fastest times - or not to have slowed down sufficiently - while the flags were out. In the second session the RSF driver was unable to hook up all his best sectors on the same lap and paid the penalty, ending up fifth on the grid for round 14, this time 0.378 seconds adrift of pole. In the first of Sunday's two races Turvey lined up on the second row behind Carlin Motorsport team mate Jaime Alguersuari - who had inherited the top slot from Ericsson - and the Finn Atte Mustonen. Alongside, to spice up the dash to Paddock Hill Bend, was championship leader Sergio Perez. But when the lights went out it was Alguersuari and Turvey who made the best starts, the RSF driver scything past Mustonen to follow his team mate up Hailwood Hill to Druids. Over the following 14 laps the Spaniard built up an unassailable lead of more than nine seconds while Turvey - who had no answer to the his team mate's pace through Brands' high speed sector two - pulled out a 1.5 second lead over Mustonen in third. Soon afterwards – with the order of the front runners unchanged - a high speed off by Alistair Jackson at Surtees led to the deployment of the safety car and the race being red-flagged two laps short of the full 18-lap distance. "Jaime's been really quick through sector two all weekend and for some reason I just couldn't match his pace through those corners," Turvey said. "I was doing everything with the car that I possibly could but just couldn't run as quickly through there as he could. So despite the best laid plans I was quickly forced to settle for second which I held onto comfortably right the way through to the finish." Next time out Turvey made another great start, this time from fifth on the grid, leapfrogging Alguersuari to take up station behind Mustonen in third. Perez headed the pack having doled out similar treatment to pole sitter Ericsson at the start but the Mexican was forced to work hard to hang onto the lead by the tenacious Swede. The battle continued for 21 of the 22 laps when Ericsson spun off at Sheene Curve handing victory to Perez. Mustonen and Turvey, who had waged their own race-long battle, also benefited from Ericsson's demise to finish on the podium. "Another good start and finish," the RSF driver said afterwards. "I was able to pass Jaime reasonably easily off the line and keep him at bay while I pressurised Mustonen. But unfortunately he never made any mistakes which is a pity because I'm pretty sure I had a lot better pace than him. The trouble was, I couldn't get close enough to him get by. "Still, we've come away with another two podium finishes which is good news for the Foundation, Carlin and me." << back to news