LUKE RETAINS TOP THREE SLOT DESPITE SILVERSTONE FRUSTRATION

For the second season in succession, Luke Browning was left to wonder what might have been during his home round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone.

The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver had seen his hopes of success on British soil ended in disappointing fashion twelve months ago when he forced to retire from the feature race following contact on the opening lap, but returned this time around on a high having scored a dominant win in Austria to reclaim the championship lead.

The weekend didn’t start in the best of fashions however, with rain impacting on the sole practice session, leading to Luke and the team taking the decision to not even head out onto the circuit and to instead save tyres for the remainder of the the weekend.

Rain would also impact qualifying and it looked like it was going to prevent Luke from fighting at the sharp end of the grid as he sat down outside the top ten after the first runs when rain started to fall.

As the session moved towards a close however and the rain abated, drivers headed back onto the circuit and the time suddenly started to improve, with Luke leaving it until the last moment to blast up the order and secure a stunning pole position.

That made Luke the first driver to score back-to-back pole positions in the series since current Williams F1 racer Logan Sargeant scored three-in-a-row back in 2020.

The reverse grid opening race saw Luke starting in twelfth spot, although it would be a longer wait than expected to hit the track after heavy rain saw the race delayed by some nine hours to take place on Saturday evening.

Retaining his position at the start before a brief caution period to recover debris from the circuit, Lukes hopes of forward progress were ended by a hit from former team-mate Tim Tramnitz at the Loop that resulted in a front left puncture.

Although Luke was able to drag his car back to the pits so the tyre could be replaced, he dropped off the lead lap and would finish back in 24th place.

Lining up on the grid for the start of the feature race as light rain started to fall, Luke joined the majority of the field in switching to wet tyres only for a number of rivals to pit at the end of the green flag lap for slick rubber when conditions weren’t as wet as expected.

After a brief caution period, Luke found himself powerless to keep the slick-shod car of Callum Voisin behind before another safety car arrived just as the rain started to fall again.

It meant Luke reclaimed the lead on the restart and had built a commanding lead at the front within a matter of laps before Alex Dunne and Sebastian Montoya colliding at pit entry whilst avoiding a spinning Joshua Dufek to bring out another caution.

Whilst a dry line started to emerge as the field circulated behind the safety car, Luke had no option but to remain on track with the pit entry closed and he remained out front on the restart until it became clear that those who had gone to slick tyres had ultimately made the correct call.

Luke fought hard to stay out front as long as possible but would ultimately slip back to eighth place by the finish, with a late move from Luca Fornaroli meaning the talented Briton would be second amongst those on the wet rubber.

Six vital points for Like means he sits third in the points heading away from the weekend, with the next event at the Hungaroring in two weeks time.

“As a weekend, that ultimately sucked after a strong start, and nothing will take away the fact that we scored two consecutive pole positions – becoming the first driver to do it for four years,” he said. “Whilst the races haven’t gone our way, we’re still right in the fight at the front and we will come back from this stronger as the work ethic within the whole team is going to be throught the roof.

“There are three rounds still to run and it’s close in the points, so bring it on!”