Wickens on the podium for Carlin at Hockenheim
07 June 2009It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Carlin's British F3 team in Hockenheim this weekend, as the team competed in the rounds seven and eight of the 2009 Cooper Tires British F3 season. The team endured a difficult first race on Saturday, which saw Ricciardo and Chilton finish fourth and fifth, Arundel 13th and Wickens out in a first lap crash. Following various set up changes however, the team were back on top form for race two on Sunday, to challenge the leaders until an accident took Chilton and Ricciardo out of contention. Carlin's stand in driver Robert Wickens demonstrated the pace of the Carlin car though, surging through from 15th place on the grid to finish third. Despite not making it onto the podium, Ricciardo has maintained a 15 point lead in the drivers' championship
Following a difficult race for the Carlin squad on Saturday, the team made various set up changes ahead of round eight on Sunday morning. Following rain early in the morning, the drivers took to a drying track for the second race of the weekend, with Ricciardo and Chilton lining up third and fourth respectively, with Wickens and Arundel 15th and 16th respectively.
Race two was an eventful affair, with numerous overtaking manoeuvres making for a thrilling round eight of the 2009 British F3 Series. Lining up third and fourth on the grid, Ricciardo and Chilton were looking good for a podium position but both drivers lost out off the line. As the cars funnelled round the first few corners, Ricciardo found himself in the middle of an other drivers' accidents, and had to take avoiding action around the outside of turn three to avoid contact. While Ricciardo ran wide to miss the unfolding melee, Team mates Chilton and Wickens took the inside line and made up several places. At the end of lap one, Chilton was fourth while Wickens had already stormed to seventh place from 15th on the grid.
Two laps into the race, the Carlin drivers were clearly on a charge and by lap seven, Chilton had surged past Marcus Ericsson to take third, while Wickens was also closing in on Ericsson, with team mate Ricciardo just behind in sixth. The order changed again on the next lap, with Wickens and Ricciardo swapping places and both making it past Ericsson. With the two leaders seemingly holding up the rest of the field, the top five quickly bunched up, with nothing between the Carlin cars of Chilton, Ricciardo and Wickens. By lap 11, the order had changed again, with former Carlin World Series driver Wickens passing Ricciardo and Chilton to take third. Behind them, Arundel was just out of the points in 11th place.
As the race entered the final stages, Chilton and Ricciardo still looked capable of challenging the leaders, until an over ambitious move by Wayne Boyd resulted in contact between the T-Sport and Carlin cars. While Ricciardo was tapped into a spin and was able to recover, Chilton sustained a right rear puncture which effectively ended his race. Following that accident, Arundel was up to ninth place, while Ricciardo had fallen to seventh. The championship leader lost a place on the penultimate lap though, and crossed the line in eighth place with Arundel just behind. At the front, Wickens went on to claim Carlin's seventh podium of the season, having made his way through from 15th on the grid.
Reflecting on the team's performance, Trevor Carlin said, "As the conditions changed over the weekend, we went from being very competitive in qualifying to I think its fair to say lacking pace in the first race. All credit to the team for the amount of work they did in between the first and second races and I think the results of that were clear to see. The drivers did a fantastic job today; Max, Robert and Daniel were so close in the race and closed in on the leaders very quickly. It's a huge shame for both Max and Daniel that they lost out on a possible podium through no fault of their own, and especially for Max who really deserved some points, but instead suffered a puncture. While Daniel and Max were unlucky, Robert did a fantastic job to prove what the car was capable of. I don't think the points really reflect the pace of the team today, but we know we made some steps forward."