24.08.08 TURVEY ON TOP WITH ONLY TWO RACE TO GO Sunday, 24 August 2008: Oliver Turvey claimed his 12th podium finish of the season at the Bucharest-Ring to stretch his lead at the top of the British F3 International Championship by a further three points. The Racing Steps Foundation driver now heads into the final two rounds of the championship at Donington Park 12 points clear of his closest rival and Carlin Motorsport team mate Jaime Alguersuari. Fellow team mate Brendon Hartley lies in third place, 30 points adrift after the title challenge of Sergio Perez effectively petered out on the streets of the Romanian capital. The Mexican – who was second in the table heading into the weekend - left without a single point and now trails Turvey by 39 points. Turvey, who had never driven on a street circuit before, claimed two front row starts and two second place finishes to safeguard his lead in a weekend dominated by the three Carlin Motorsport drivers. The New Zealander underlined his intentions in the first qualifying session with a last lap that wrested pole position from Turvey by eight-tenths of a second. At the end of the first lap the status quo was maintained with Hartley leading Turvey and Alguersuari over the line - a running order that was to remain unchanged all the way to the chequered flag. With the emergence of the safety car for five laps at the end of lap six, followed by an incident on lap 16 that brought the race to a premature end, the chances of challenging Hartley's supremacy were virtually nil. "The aim was to beat Brendon off the line but our pace at the start was pretty similar so I just tucked in behind him," said Turvey. "We've both been quick all weekend so once it became clear I wasn't going to be able to challenge him for the lead I settled for second place." In the second qualifying session positions were reversed, Turvey stealing pole from arch rival Hartley by 0.003 of a second as the flag dropped. When the lights went out at start of the race battle was re-joined at turn 1 as Hartley drew alongside his Carlin team mate. Both braked at the same point but Turvey - on the dirty side of the tight track – ran wide taking Hartley with him, that allowed Alguersuari to cut through on the inside and take the lead. Hartley came off worst losing two places which he promptly made up the following lap, to reconnect with his team mates at the front of the field. The deployment of the safety car between laps three and 16 bunched up the trio but when the race restarted neither Turvey nor Hartley could find a way around the man in front. Alguersuari's victory secured Carlin's second 1-2-3 finish of the weekend and its 150th win. "I got off the line well," said Turvey. "But going into the first turn I was on the slippery part of the track and couldn't slow down enough to get into the first corner. That meant I ran wide a little. It was regrettable but not intentional and unfortunately allowed Jaime through. After that it simply wasn't possible to regain the lead. "But with two second places in the bag I'm not too disappointed. Since Thruxton we've been on the podium in every race apart from Spa where we had the mechanical problem. That gives me a 12 point lead going to Donington where I'm really confident. It's one of my favourite tracks. "So all told, a brilliant job by my race engineer and Carlin and a pretty good weekend for me and the Racing Steps Foundation." << back to news