19.05.08 THREE IN THREE FOR TURVEY Monday, 19 May 2008: RSF British F3 driver Oliver Turvey stepped up to the podium for the third time in three meetings at Monza at the weekend. Turvey – who won first time out at Oulton Park in March and claimed third place in round four at Croft in April – clinched his latest podium with a well judged drive from ninth on the grid to finish third in the first of the weekend's races. The F3 rookie inherited his fifth row starting slot after safety considerations reduced qualifying for the two rounds to a single Saturday afternoon session - torrential rain causing the abandonment of Friday qualifying. The controversial decision meant that each driver's best and second best Saturday times would decide grid positions. With heavy rain dogging the second session many drivers set their best times after short-circuiting the Monza chicanes in the treacherous conditions which led to some but not all of the 'guilty' drivers being demoted. The revision promoted Turvey from 12th and 13th to 9th and 10th for the two race grids. Come the first race, a dry track allowed all 28 cars to start on slicks which was an added bonus for the RSF driver whose wet weather set up had caused problems in the earlier qualifying session. By the end of lap one Turvey had cause to be grateful as he came round in seventh place. Two laps later, Turvey dropped to eighth as Sergio Perez made his way through in his Mugen-Honda-powered Dallara which had the edge down the long straights. But by the end of lap five Turvey began his move up the order taking sixth place from Meyrick before catching and passing Ericsson for fifth on the following lap. Turvey passed Abay for fourth on lap nine. The chance to take third eventually presented itself on the penultimate lap leaving the way clear for Turvey to claim third place on the podium along side race winner Perez. In round six, with persistent rain making the track extremely hazardous for the slick-shod cars Turvey made it safely through the first lap in eighth place after finding a way round Meyrick and Ericsson. The following three laps were spent in line behind the safety car after a first lap pile up at Ascari. After the restart, Turvey lost a place to the hard-charging Perez and fell down the order on lap six as Nick Tandy made his way through to seventh. But three laps later with both Chinosi and Mick Devaney accounted for Turvey began reeling in seventh place man Sebastian Hohenthal. Two attempts at overtaking Hohenthal ended up on the grass. As the gap closed at the start of lap 13 Turvey made another move with a controlled manoeuvre down the inside as they approached the first corner. With Turvey on the inside line the pair made it round the corner only for them to collide as Hohethal tried to squeeze Turvey in the chicane. The coming together pitched the Swede into a roll, the car ending up upside down in the middle of the track and halting the race a lap early. Turvey was handed a 10 second penalty for his part in the incident which demoted him to 13th , dropping him out of the points and second place in the championship. He now lies third. When told of the penalty afterwards, he commented: "As we went into the chicane he squeezed me which left me with nowhere to go." << back to news