F3 History

Everyone appeared to get away cleanly at the start of the latest Lombank North Central round but to general surprise Alan Jones was deemed to have jumped the start and was given the customary one minute penalty. Unaware of his penalty Jones took an immediate lead in his GRD 373 from Tony Brise (March 733), Matt Spitzley (March 713M/733), Richard Robarts (March 733), Pedro Passadore (GRD 373) and Tony Rouff (GRD 373). The first four positions remained static for the entire race despite Brise’s best efforts to get ahead of Jones with Spitzley a few lengths back in third. Robarts held onto fourth despite Mike Wilds making a great effort in the closings laps to get on terms with the Myson March. Wilds had had a difficult practice and started from the fifth row so his drive was especially noteworthy. Brian Henton had also gone very well after starting from row six following gearbox problems in practice, he was lying eighth on lap 5 only to throw it all away with a big spin at the Esses. Leonel Friedrich had started his March from row two but first gear stripped on the line making him very slow away, luckily no one made contact with him and he pulled up to finish ninth on the road, one place behind Tony Rouff (GRD 373).