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Was at Silverstone for the GTs and have to say I'd been looking forward to seeing the F3s on the GP track as I'd only previously seen them a few times at Knockhill and the track never really suited them. Sadly they turned out to be two of the dullest processions I've ever seen - I'll catch the TV coverage to see if I missed all the action elsewhere but there was a lot of grumbling in the crowd around me at how boring the races were...

British Formula 3 and Formula Ford team boss Joe Tandy died in a car crash yesterday afternoon.

The 2005 Formula Palmer Audi champion and team chief of JTR, which runs Mygales in British F3 and FFord, was involved in a road traffic accident at a junction near his Bedfordshire home in Bromham.

The BMW in which the 26-year-old and a family friend were travelling collided with a lorry box van at 12:24pm on Wednesday.

Tandy was pronounced dead at the scene, while the friend was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Tandy takes emotional F3 victory

By Ben Anderson Sunday, May 31st 2009, 11:58 GMT

Nick Tandy paid tribute to his dearly departed brother Joe and delivered the perfect result for his beleaguered JTR team by winning the first British Formula 3 race at Rockingham today.

Tandy started third, but took the lead on the exit of Deene hairpin on lap one. Championship leader and pole position man Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin) tried to outbrake the fast-starting Renger van der Zande (Hitech) into the corner and launched his Dallara-Volkswagen into his rival and into retirement.

The Dutchman found his way back to the pits for repairs to the rear wing. He returned to the fray six laps down and set a sequence of fastest laps, before retiring with damaged rear suspension from the earlier collision.

As Tandy's Mygale-Mercedes escaped with the lead, series returnee Marcus Ericsson (Raikkonen Robertson) tried to give chase. But the Swede had no answer to Tandy's relentless pace and the JTR man stroked the car home to record a thoroughly deserved victory by 8.608 seconds.

As his team cheered him across the line, Tandy's front right suspension collapsed and he was lucky to keep the car out of the wall. But nothing could take the shine off a memorable and emotional triumph.

"What a tribute to Joe. That's for you brother, that's for you!" said a delighted Tandy after the race.

"He made this car the fastest car out there today and my God was it fast. I've never driven a formula car and had it come that easy.

"We had a bit of luck with the start and van der Zande and Ricciardo getting together, but what a team, what a car with the Mygale and what an engine with the Mercedes. What more can I say?"

Behind the leading pair, Ericsson's team-mate Daisuke Nakajima held a five-car train at bay throughout to record his maiden podium in British F3.

Team-mate Carlos Huertas was his closest challenger, scoring his best F3 result so far with fourth. He made a number of attempts to challenge the Japanese into Deene on the brakes, but Nakajima's defence held firm each time.

A mightily impressive drive from Welsh independent Hywel Lloyd looked set to net him a career-best fifth spot.

He charged up from 12th on the grid into the top six in the early laps, but spun down the order at the exit of Deene after trying to pass Huertas for fourth.

He fell to eighth and then fell into retirement after contact with Walter Grubmuller's Hitech car while trying to storm back through the field.

Weekend-long National Class pace-setter Gabriel Dias (T-Sport) looked set for a comfortable class win until a drive through penalty dropped him behind rival Daniel McKenzie in the late stages.

Pos Driver Team Car Time
1. Nick Tandy JTR M/M 30m57.771s
2. Marcus Ericsson Double R D/M + 8.608s
3. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M + 17.310s
4. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M + 18.226s
5. Max Chilton Carlin D/V + 18.800s
6. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M + 19.641s
7. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V + 23.176s
8. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M + 26.969s
9. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V + 28.786s
10. Jay Bridger Litespeed M/H + 32.909s
11. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/H + 39.365s
12. Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H + 40.662s
13. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M + 47.740s
14. Maxim Snegirev West-Tec D/H +1m04.444s
15. Victor Correa Litespeed S/H +1m08.315s
16. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V + 1 lap

Retirements:

Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 21 laps
Hywel Lloyd CF D/H 19 laps
Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M 9 laps
Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 0 laps

Ericsson takes first British F3 win

By Ben Anderson Sunday, May 31st 2009, 15:53 GMT

Marcus Ericsson secured his maiden victory in British Formula 3 by winning race two at Rockingham this afternoon.

The Swede, who took advantage of a gap in his Japanese F3 programme to return to the series as a guest for Raikkonen Robertson Racing this weekend, inherited the win when early leader Riki Christodoulou (Fortec) was penalised for lining up out of position on the front row of the grid before the start.

Both poleman Ericsson and Christodoulou made average getaways at the start of the race, but a first corner melee, which accounted for the hapless Renger van der Zande (Hitech) and forced race one winner Nick Tandy (JTR) to crab to the pits with a broken nose cone, allowed the front two to make an early escape from the rest.

A further first-lap shunt at Tarzan eliminated the national class pacesetter Gabriel Dias (T-Sport) and Carlos Huertas (Double R), and required a safety car to allow marshals to mop up the mess.

Christodoulou controlled the restart and began to stretch a slight advantage back to his Swedish rival, but it would all be for nought as the officials slapped him with a drivethrough penalty for his earlier infringement.

The leader continued to circulate until seeing the black flag at mid-distance. He dived into the pits to take his original drivethrough penalty and rejoined in 11th place, but had to come in for good with six laps left owing to disqualification for ignoring the officials.

That left Ericsson clear to cruise home and collect a comfortable 3.926-second win - Double R's first of the season on the first anniversary of its last triumph in British F3 at Rockingham.

Carlin's Henry Arundel, who started from row two, carefully avoided the first lap chaos to claim a career-best second – his maiden F3 podium.

T-Sport's Adriano Buzaid was the biggest beneficiary of the first lap fracas and leapt from ninth on the grid to fourth, which became his and the team's second podium of the season once Christodoulou had been excluded.

This race was a largely processional affair, with Daisuke Nakajima (Double R), championship leader Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin) and Walter Grubmuller (Hitech) also avoiding the opening lap trouble and running in station throughout the rest of the race to round out the top six.

Victor Garcia (Fortec) had his best run of the season to claim seventh, while Jay Bridger secured his and Litespeed's best ever result in British F3 by taking eighth.

Tandy's charge through the field, after his opening lap woes, ended with an over-optimistic attempt to pass Stephane Richelmi at Yentwood and he finished a lowly 14th but took a point for fastest lap and the driver of the day award for his earlier triumph in race one.

Pos Driver Team Car Time
1. Marcus Ericsson Double R D/M 30m01.530s
2. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V + 3.926s
3. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V + 4.871s
4. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M + 6.165s
5. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V + 7.344s
6. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M + 8.037s
7. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M + 13.088s
8. Jay Bridger Litespeed M/H + 13.952s
9. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H + 14.409s
10. Max Chilton Carlin D/V + 16.030s
11. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V + 22.247s
12. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M + 25.435s
13. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/H + 27.147s
14. Nick Tandy JTR M/M + 30.761s
15. Maxim Snegirev West-Tec D/H +1m14.095s

Retirements:

Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M 15 laps
Victor Corrêa Litespeed S/H 2 laps
Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H 1 lap
Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M 0 laps
Carlos Huertas Double R D/M 0 laps

I got told that the ART boys are also using there normal euroseries tyres.

Where from?
Cuz I guess this is the one of the main factors how the Euro Series guys will perform.