08.06.08 DAMAGE LIMITATION AT SNETTERTON Sunday, 08 June 2008: Oliver Turvey made damage limitation look relatively easy at Snetterton as he made up for two disappointing qualifying sessions with solid fourth and fifth place finishes in rounds 9 and 10 of the British F3 International Championship. In similar wet weather qualifying conditions to the two previous rounds at Rockingham, Turvey once again struggled to find the best set up and paid the price with a pair of fourth row grid positions. "In the first session we had quite a lot of understeer and changing weather," the RSF driver explained. "So unfortunately I didn't get my quickest lap in when the track conditions were at their best. "Then in the second session the changes we made produced a lot of oversteer. On top of that I got held up on the last two laps as I was putting in my fastest times. Without that I think we could have been in the top three." But the reality was he started from P7 in both races in dramatically changed weather conditions. With the heavy rain making way overnight for a bright and dry race day, Turvey made hay while the sun shone with a rapid start catapulting him ahead of Perez to tuck in behind race leaders Michael Devaney, Jaime Alguersuari, Brendon Hartley, Nick Tandy and Sebastian Hohenthal. By lap two he had moved ahead of Tandy and Hohenthal to claim fourth place which he held onto comfortably all the way to the chequered flag. For the second race further changes were made to set up providing Turvey with a car much more to his liking but lacking straightline speed. On the grid, he lined up behind Hartley, Hohenthal, Perez, Devaney, Mustonen and Alguersuari – Devaney making up two places when the lights went out and Perez dropping three places down to sixth in front of Turvey. By the end of the first lap the order was Hartley, Devaney, Hohenthal, Mustonen, Alguersuari, Perez and Turvey. Four laps later Turvey inherited sixth after Carlin Motorsport team mate Hartley spun off at Riches and with eight laps of the 28-lap race to go jumped Mustonen to finish fifth. Both races were won by Devaney who moves up to seventh in the driver standings. Turvey remains fifth in the table. "To get fourth and fifth after starting from seventh on the grid in both races was not too bad under the circumstances," said Turvey reflecting on what might have been. "Another two podium finishes would have been better but we've gained valuable points which has narrowed the gap to the top of the table to 24 points with 10 rounds still to come." << back to news