British F3: Novalak Benefited from Rivals Misfortune at Snetterton

Clement Novalak leaves the Snetterton with a comfortable 37 point gap atop the BRDC British F3 Championship, despite not recording a race win at the circuit.

Instead, the second weekend of the year saw three different victors, with Johnathan Hoggard and Hampus Ericsson taking the honours in the two main races. The reverse grid race would once again shake up the order as Lucas Petersson took his first podium and win of the season from the front. Novalak scored less points than he had at Oulton Park, but a crash in the final race caused by Hoggard, left the Fortec driver, Neil Verhagen and Keirn Jewiss out of proceedings, all of which had been performing up to that point.

Friday had been a record breaking day for some, with a few drivers beating Enaam Ahmed’s circuit record from 2017. Ayrton Simmons eventually set the new record of 1min 42.284. That’s 0.297 ahead of the former-champions. More surprisingly though, had been the pace shown from Sasakorn Chaimongkol and the lack of speed from the Carlin trio. Indicating there more was to come on Saturday.

As it turned out damp conditions hampered early running, with laps three to four seconds slower. It wasn’t until Jonhnathan Hoggard dropped into the 1min 43’s that the others followed, albeit behind the Friday pace. In a typical Mercedes-esque move, the Carlin’s held their pace until the bitter stages, with Novalak taking the teams second pole in as many rounds. Behind second place Hoggard, Kiern Jewiss and Hampus Ericsson occupied the second row. Hoggard though did have pole for race three.

It would be Hoggard smiling at the end of Sunday, as he beat Novalak during an intense attack during the opning race.

Novalak had already been complaining about the cars setup after Qualifying and it appeared that what he was foreshadowing came true. Unlike most polesitters Novalak failed to extend his advantage, instead holding up a queue of drivers. He complained about issues while braking, but did a good job to hold off the rest of the paddock, finishing second ahead of Kiern Jewiss.

Jewiss had saved tyres, noting that it was hard to follow around Snetterton. While true, it undermines how much Hoggard needed Novalak’s mistake at the Wilson hairpin despite his overspeed.

Hoggard was expected to dominate the weekend due to his pole in race three, but it all turned sour for himself and Kiern Jewiss in the final race. After a poor start, Hoggard had dropped to second and diced with Neil Verhagen. The American was edged onto the grass on the inside of the run up to Wilson. With no grip he careered back across the hairpin, across the front of Hoggard and Jewiss, who had attempted to pass both around the outside. Hoggard was given a 10 place demotion for silverstone

This left Hampus Ericsson in the lead of the restart, the Double R driver surprised many by holding the lead throughout the event. Novalak was second and did close the gap in the final three laps, but despite coming away with more points than any driver, fails to record a win this weekend. Ericsson meanwhile had seen a minor comeback in form. After a single top ten at Oulton, he’d picked up a fourth and first, shooting up the points order to fourth.

Rounding out the podium was Kaylen Frederick. The American had famously been one of the fastest last round only to come away with a race two win. This weekend though, he finally seemed back to a standard, holding off the advancing Ayrton Simmons, who himself recorded two top 5 finishes.

Notable Names

A per usual, the reverse grid race would throw up some surprise results. Most notably for Neil Verhagen. The American had been eleventh on the grid in race two, but was inside the top five by the end of the opening lap. From there he continued his progress eventually finishing third. The result moves the American from promising midfield runner to potential regular front runner. He denied Oulton’s reverse grid winner; Kaylen Frederick a podium, with his countryman finishing fourth. Frederick though would get his revenge in the third race with a podium.

Up front it was a Carlin win for Lucas Petersson. The Swede had started on pole after a dire opening race, managing what he’d failed to do in Oulton Park. Petersson had been one of the disappointments of the first round and the UAE F4 champion will be expected to use the result to jump back into contention later in the season. Sadly for the Swede, any momentum was short lived after he was disqualified in the third race for hitting Benjamin Pedersen under safety car.

Clement Novalak comes away from Snetterton in the best position. Considering he’d not raced at the circuit last season, he was the only driver to record a double podium. Even in race two, where he didn’t pick up silverware, he gained the most places of any driver (9) jumping up to sixth. The Carlin driver had done much of the progress early on, battling with Jewiss.

Unfortunately for the Douglas Motorsport team leader, contact with fifth place Nazim Azman broke his front wing, eventually seeing him off at Brundle. The Malaysian had been a surprise form runner of the second race, but did also contribute to Josh Mason’s retirement in the battle for fourth. Hoggard would only finish eighth as a dire race for Ayrton Simmons saw him run off track twice.

Simmons himself will be disappointed with how his weekend progressed. No podiums is a big blow for a driver who had run toe-to-toe with Hoggard and Novalak at Oulton, though he maintains third in the standings. It will be positive returns to form for Ericsson and Fredrick, who had both promised so much at the start of the season.

The surprise race three had mixed up the championship order outside of the top two. Just 24 points seperate Simmons in third to Jewiss in ninth on 75 points. Most notably though, Simmons is closer in points to Petersson in fourteenth than Novalak in first, showing how much the Carlin driver (and Hoggard) have pulled away in these early stages. In fact, other than Novalak, the only other driver to have finished in the top ten for every race so far is Manuel Maldonado.

Silverstone is on 8-9 June for the third round of the year.