The end of the British F3 season has come around again and the ADR team ended it on a high with a top three qualifying position from Aussie John Martin at the Rockingham Motor Speedway. In a session that saw conditions changing from wet to dry in the space of 30 minutes, the team changed to slick tyres and made crucial changes to the car’s set-up allowing John just 5 laps to put in a competitive lap time and secure a top starting position for the race. On his final timed lap he posted the third fastest time behind Finland’s Atte Mustonen and Estonia’s Marco Asmer.

After showing much promise in testing by setting lap times inside the top 15, Italian Francesco Castellacci failed to deliver in qualifying posting 22nd fastest time.
In the race John was unable to hold on to his position after being boxed out by his competitors into the first corner, a mistake that saw him drop to seventh in the standings. Franco improved his position slightly to 20th in a race that saw relatively little overtaking, highlighting the importance of a good qualifying position.

The ADR team would like to thank its partners and followers for their support and assistance during the 2007 British F3 International Series.

The team has now turned its attention to an extensive winter testing program for the coming 2008 season and the arrival of the next generation Dallara F3 chassis.

ADR’s British F3 team came home from Croft more satisfied than in recent race meetings with points being scored in both Championship and National Class.

The young Australian John Martin, showed promise in testing, hovering just outside of the top ten. Qualifying however saw traffic hampering John from showing his true pace, qualifying 15th and 14th in the two 30 minute sessions respectively.

Francesco Castellacci also showed an upturn in pace setting 19th fastest time in testing. Unfortunately Franco, who resides in his hometown of Rome, didn’t get the best from himself or his car, qualifying 22nd in both sessions.

Iceland’s Viktor Jensen experienced another trying weekend. Struggling to find his rhythm on the tight and twisty circuit, the National Class racer, set a lap time that put him 27th in the standings during testing (6th in National class). The first Qualifying session saw Viktor fly off the track on lap one at Clervaux corner, a fast right hand kink. After bouncing violently across the gravel, Viktor headed to the pits to assess the damage. After some time he re-emerged but with a slow puncture limiting him to a slot on the last row of the grid. He set about the second session with confidence delivering a time good enough for 5th in the National class.

The first of Sunday’s races was a race of attrition with only 16 of the 29 starters seeing the chequered flag at the end. John Martin saw off the challenges of Walter Grubmuller to finish 10th and pick up another vital championship point. Franco’s race was one to forget. After a poor start relegated him to the back of the field, he tangled with National class racer Juan Pablo Garcia after 16 laps ending his race. Viktor’s race was cruelly cut short by a broken driveshaft whilst running just outside the National Class podium positions in 4th.

The F3 field approached the second race with a little more caution with 23 racers making it to the end of the 24 lap race. John’s race was uneventful as he circulated behind Brands race winner Seb Hohenthal to 11th place. Nevertheless he kept the pressure on with some competitive lap times that would have seen him maintain a much higher position. Franco’s race was a definite improvement on the first with some daring manoeuvres seeing him finish in 18th, his highest finishing position to date. Viktor’s race was again looking competitive before a couple of errors dropped him to 7th in the National class.

The ADR team now move on to the final round of the British F3 International Series at Rockingham Motorspeedway in Northamptonshire on 29th and 30th September.

Thruxton 26/08/2007

ADR’s British F3 squad have returned to their Silverstone base on the back of a weekend to forget at Thruxton. Francesco Castellacci however, who hails from Rome, was delighted with his pace. For the first time he regularly outpaced his team mate, Queenslander John Martin.

The first Qualifying session saw Franco qualify as the first ADR car in 21st position, with John Martin 24th and Viktor Jensen 28th (7th in National Class). The perky Roman then asserted his role as team leader with a 22nd in the second Qualifying session, with John 26th and Viktor again qualifying 28th. “I think this shows how I’ve been improving. I’m quite happy with how it has gone. We kept the runs short so our tyres are still OK for the races” the young Italian exclaimed.

In the first race John started making inroads through the field before an unfortunate tangle with Franco at the Campbell-Cobb-Seagrave complex put him out of the race, whilst the Italian carried on unscathed to finish 21st. Viktor experienced a relatively uneventful outing to finish 23rd overall, 7th in class.

John resumed his position as ADR’s top finisher this time round in Race 2, making up nine places from his starting position to finish 17th overall, 15th in class. “This weekend’s been a bit of a non-event for me. I just want to forget about it to be honest and get to a more “normal” track. Thruxton wasn’t kind to me in Formula Ford last year. We’ve had a couple of days testing at Croft at the beginning of the year, so I’m hoping we can make it into the top ten in the next two rounds”
Race 2 saw Viktor feeling more comfortable with the high speed Hampshire track and quickly moved into 3rd place in class. He was bumped down to fourth however after an on-track spat with rival Hamad al-Fardan.
Francesco’s luck ran out after 8 laps, a puncture caused by contact with National class racer Juan Pablo Garcia forcing him into retirement.

A disappointed Martin managed to finish just outside the points in race two after a collision with a rival Honda engine powered driver Gonzalez in the first race. After an average qualifying result in the first session, the Australian ploughed through the field before being taken out by the recovering T-Sport driver in the later stages of the race, ending his chances of finishing in the points. After a phenomenal effort by the team to repair the car in time for the second race, Martin had a fairly uneventful outing, following National Class championship leader Perez for the majority of the race and finished in 12th place in the Championship Class. Martin explained, "The car just didn't feel the same in race two after the run in with Rodolfo(Gonzalez), but I’m really grateful to the team for managing to get me back out there in time. We had the pace to get some points this weekend so it's pretty disappointing."

Fellow ADR drivers Viktor Jensen and Francesco Castellacci also had a couple of mishaps this weekend, however, with each other. A collision during the first race between the two team mates competing in the two different classes meant an early retirement for both drivers, leaving the whole team with plenty of repair work to perform on the cars before race two in the afternoon. After being unable to put a good lap together in the second qualifying session, Viktor started from the back of the grid. He did however manage to gain a couple of places in the opening laps of the race, but a spin at the first corner a few laps in, once again involving his fellow team mate Francesco, pushed the two drivers to the back of the field leaving them just too far behind to finish in respectable positions.

John Martin:

The young Australian John Martin brought home their best result of the weekend finishing in the points in 10th position in race 2.

Whilst the sun shone and temperatures were high on the Italian Grand Prix venue, qualifying for the AMSF backed driver saw mixed results. Having qualified 12th in Championship class in session 1, session 2 saw him struggling to find his rhythm in amongst traffic and resulted in a disappointing 14th in class.

John’s getaway off the line in the first of the 16 lap races was hampered by an over heated clutch allowing five cars past by the first turn. Having lost touch with the drafting pack ahead of him, it was difficult to make up positions, but he duly picked them off one by one eventually finishing 13th in class.

The second race saw a fantastic display of racecraft from the Aussie. After another poor start, this time due to nearly stalling the engine off the line, he had extra work to do. John made up for it quickly with a couple of daring manoeuvres, out-braking his rivals two at a time into the first chicane. Another position was gained after Gonzalez was spectacularly barrel rolled out of the race. After disposing of Max Chilton his race concluded fighting hard with Monza specialist Matteo Chinosi.

“It’s been a tough weekend for sure. But it’s good to be in the points again and a fantastic experience racing on a circuit like Monza. We should do more tracks like this.”

Francesco Castellacci:

Local boy Francesco Castellacci, who resides in nearby Milan, had a weekend to forget. Amazingly he had never driven a lap of the Monza Grand Prix circuit before turning up as part of the British F3 circus.

Keen to get as many laps under his belt as possible, he was dealt a cruel blow as his engine expired in spectacular fashion in less than two laps of running. The ADR crew worked flat out to get the engine changed in time for the first qualifying session. They say lightening never strikes twice, but for the luckless Italian, it did. This time Francesco never even made it to the pit lane before engine number two failed. For the second time the ADR team set about the work ahead.

The Stop and Go TV backed driver made it out for the second qualifying session and was sure to cram in as many laps as possible to learn the circuit in preparation for the races and in doing so qualified on the back row.

From last on the grid, he made up 12 places to finish 22nd overall in a race that he treated as another test session to try and boost his circuit knowledge.
Race two ended as disappointingly as the weekend started for the 20 year old, spinning off into the gravel at the second chicane whilst avoiding a recovering Atte Mustonen.

“I really wanted to do well here in front of my home crowd. It’s been a bit of a disaster for me really. But now I will forget about it and look forward to Brands Hatch.”

Viktor Jensen:

For Viktor Jensen the next round of the British Formula 3 calendar at Brands Hatch in 3 weeks can’t come soon enough after a weekend of toiling in the heat of Monza.  The 19 year old Icelander based in Esher was frustrated by bad luck, resulting in an engine change prior to the first race, and a punctured tyre in the second.  Nevertheless, Jensen in his GAC sponsored ADR car was still able to pick up points and remains the only National Class driver to do so in every round so far.

The weekend opened with a poor practice session and disappointment in first qualifying. With little time to make amends ahead of second qualifying, Jensen had to accept starting positions of 10th and 6th in class for Sunday’s races.

In trademark style, Viktor put his worries behind him and got off to a blistering start in the first race, gaining 9 positions by the time the train of cars had reached the Ascari complex on the first lap.  This would have left him on the podium, but as the laps went by the teenager discovered the car was still well off the pace and he had to accept 5th position.


The second race began much as the first had, as Jensen looked to be benefiting from yet more changes to the car’s setup.  But having once more gained several places after a superb start, the Icelander ran into trouble on lap 2 when he suffered a tyre puncture.  Forced to enter the pits, the race was reduced to a glorified test session and Viktor finished 9th in his class.

Looking forward to returning to his ‘home’ circuit of Brands Hatch on the weekend commencing 14th July, Viktor commented “I wish it was tomorrow.  I just want to get rid of that bitter taste after feeling really good in myself heading to Italy.  We struggled a little bit with the setup of the car but I want to thank my team for all their efforts in trying to put things right in really humid conditions and under pretty impossible time pressures”.

John Martin: - Martin Moving Forward

Queenslander John Martin narrowly missed collecting points last weekend at Snetterton.

Looking to follow on from his success at Bucharest, the reigning Australian Formula Ford champ had mixed fortunes in qualifying, where three tenths of a second covered the top ten. The two sessions saw John qualify 16th and then 13th, after a spin at Riches bend cut his second qualifying session short.

The two races revealed a similar pattern, having fought his way through to 11th from 16th on the grid; a spin again at Riches put him out of the race.

In the second race the AMSF supported driver was fighting for positions all race long with Mario Moraes, Michael Devaney and Jonathan Kennard, finishing 12th just outside of the points.

“We can take positives from the weekend I think” said Martin “We achieved our highest qualifying position, and there is still more to come from the car and myself”

Francesco Castellacci: - Castellacci's Difficult Weekend

The young Italian Francesco Castellacci had a difficult weekend at the Norfolk venue.

Qualifying was one of the more positive aspects of the weekend for Franco who is supported by stopandgo.tv. Consistency was the key, qualifying 22nd and 21st in the two qualifying sessions after a couple of off-track excursions hampered his progress.

“I was just pushing too hard” said the young Roman “The end of the sessions is when the quick times are set, and I pushed too hard and fell off a couple of times. It’s disappointing but I know we can be faster.”

The first race saw a blistering start; Francesco pulling his Mugen powered Dallara up to 17th from 22nd on the grid. On the second lap however, Franco succumbed to Riches bend again, this time hitting the wall and ending what looked like being a good race for the likeable Italian.

Following another good start he made up three positions before the first corner in race two but was unfortunately hit from behind by National Class racer Sergio Perez, knocking him back down the order and slightly damaging his suspension. He battled on and after a brief safety car period was faced with a string of National Class cars to contend with before making an impression on his Championship Class peers. The race was too short however, picking off four National racers before the end.

“It has been a hard weekend, but I am learning and that’s what I have to concentrate on. I can’t wait to get to Monza, my only home race of the year. I have never raced there but it will be a unique experience.”

Viktor Jensen: - Viktorious ADR

19 year-old Viktor Jensen grabbed an emphatic Class win in the British and International F3 Championship at Snetterton, Norfolk, Sunday, June 3rd.

The GAC backed driver had taken the advice of his supporter, the World Super Middleweight boxing champion, Joe Calzaghe to employ some "PMA", or Positive Mental Attitude as he scored his first win in his first season of Formula 3.

He had to charge through from 7th on the grid in his Alan Docking Racing Honda/Dallara to secure the victory ahead of Frankie Cheng and Hamad Al Fardan.  After building up an impressive lead, the safety car emerged halfway through the 30 lap race due to an accident; but he managed a great restart to hold on to his advantage and take maximum points.

Viktor is now 3rd in the National Class and he is one of just 4 drivers from the field of 33 to score points in all 8 races so far this season.  He now has one 1st, two 2nds and one 3rd to his credit.
  
The next 2 races will take place at Monza, Italy on Sunday the 24th of June.

Viktor is supported by GAC Logistics, Custom TV, 24/7, Motoring & Leisure, Everitt Boles Insurance and the Capital Gold UK Radio Network.

John Martin: - Martin Makes Impression in the Streets of Bucharest

Alan Docking Racing’s John Martin put on a thrilling display of race craft to finish 4th from 14th on the grid in Sunday’s sprint through the picturesque streets of Bucharest.

With the breathtaking backdrop of Parliament Palace, qualifying for the race was held on a wet but drying track and positions were decided by the last lap when the circuit was at its quickest. Having set lap times inside the top five earlier in the session, John looked good for a high starting position on the grid. His last lap was thwarted however by the slower Fortec car of Leo Mansell immediately after setting the fourth fastest first sector in the 30 minute session, leaving him down in 14th.
“It’s really disappointing.” said the young Australian “we really had to nail that last lap, and I caught Mansell too early.”

Rain threatened the start of the race after a light sprinkling of rain gave the circuit a slippery sheen. The Australian Motorsports Foundation backed hot-shoe kept a cool head at the start whilst others were losing theirs, making up three positions on the first lap. In a fine display of overtaking, one of the highlights of the race was dispatching of Championship leader Marco Asmer and Rodolfo Gonzalez in one move up into Turn 4. He then set about displacing Sebastian Hohenthal and Michael Devaney after a safety car period closed up the pack. On the restart again John kept his head allowing the two ahead to fight whilst slipping up the inside at turn one and also lost a place to Gonzalaez at the same time. This was short lived however, John recreating his earlier manoeuvre into Turn 4 taking 4th position. In the closing laps he pulled away and reeled in pole man Jelley finishing less than a second behind.
“A few more laps and I would have made the podium I am sure” enthused Martin “I had so much fun. The car was great, and I want to say thanks to the team and my supporters the AMSF".

Francesco Castellacci: - Castellacci Takes Positives From Weekend

Francesco Castellacci’s first street race proved to be a learning experience. The young Italian qualified 27th and 24th overall respectively in the two 30 minute qualifying sessions.

“I was not risking too much in qualifying. Just focussing on doing laps and making sure I had as much exposure to the track as possible. I pushed harder in the second qualifying session but only at the end when the track was good”

The first race was a short one for the Roman completing only 10 laps, most of which were under the safety car. After the long safety car period racing was on again and the unfortunate Italian was the innocent victim of a mistake by Frankie Cheng that ended both Francesco’s and Leo Mansell’s races as well as his own.

“I was just driving in a straight line approaching the last chicane when the two cars hit me into the wall” exclaimed Francesco.

The second race saw more of the same, this time later into the race. Having carved his way to an impressive 11th in Championship class he was taken out by an impatient Ali Jackson who was trying to rejoin the race having already hit the wall.

“There were only two laps to go and I could have got into the points. I saw the car on the side and lots of people had already gone past until I was there and he just accelerated into me. It has been a learning weekend for me. Street circuits are awesome; I had no appreciation until now. I would love to do some more.”

The ADR team will next be on track at the next round of the British F3 International Series at Snetterton 1st – 3rd June.

Viktor Jensen: - Jensen’s Podium Dance in Bucharest

In what looked like a difficult weekend for the young GAC Logistics backed Icelandic driver, Viktor Jensen put in a fine performance to finish 2nd from 9th on the grid in race two after a fifth place in race one. Having lost track time in a shunt in the second qualifying session, Viktor looked to the first race for a strong points finish to add to his 2007 points tally. “I pushed too hard too soon. The quickest laps on a drying track like that are at the end, so now I’m here in 9th”

The safety car stricken first race prevented a fired-up Viktor from improving beyond 5th. The second race saw the 19 year old from Esher carve through the field on the slippery street course culminating in a stunning move that displaced points leader Frankie Cheng from the podium. He only needed a couple more laps to reel in class leader Sergio Perez and try for the lead, finishing two tenths behind.

“Of course I’m happy because it was a great drive for me, but I believe I can win races and that is my aim from here," said Viktor Jensen. "After qualifying it would have been easy to lose hope, but you make your own luck and I’ve worked very hard off the track to stay focused on my job”