F3 History

Another wet race for the Forward Trust Championship runners, the outcome of which would very much depend again on whether you car was fitted with the Firestone B33 wet tyre or not.

Once again it was Rikki von Opel revelling in the wet conditions who put his Iberia Ensign into the lead from the start, hot on his heels after a great start from the second row following a stripped third gear in practice was Brian McGuire in his Brabham BT38. Needless to say both of the two leaders were wearing the required Firestones. There was a big battle for third place between Tony Brise (Brabham BT38), Bev Bond (Ehrlich ES1), Chris Skeaping (Chevron B20), Mike Wilds (March 713S), James Hunt (Dastle Mk9), Russell Wood (March 723) and the GRD 723s of Masami Kuwashima and Andy Sutcliffe. It was Brise and Wilds with their B33 wets that began to pull away from the others with Brise holding third until lap 10 when a spin at the chicane allowed Wilds to take the place and hold it to the flag, an excellent result in only his second F3 race in the ex-Hunt March. Brise soon began to recover from his mistake but found Andy Sutcliffe in combative mood and it was several laps before the Brabham passed the GRD into fourth place.