Driver Database News

Kevin Magnussen won a dramatic Feature Race at Donington Park today, in round 27 of the Cooper Tires British F3 Series. The Danish racer fought a lengthy battle with team mate Jack Harvey, who led at the start and later ran in second place before retiring through a technical problem. Rupert Svendsen-Cook took third place to complete a strong weekend for the British driver. Carlos Huertas was the next driver across the line in fourth place. Felipe Nasr was ninth after an eventful race, just ahead of Jazeman Jaafar who 10th after a spin in what had been a strong race.

The drama in the final race of the weekend started before the drivers even left the grid, as heavy rain hit the circuit just before the start, prompting the front five runners (all Carlin drivers) to make a last minute switch to grooved rubber. Jaafar followed his team mates, pitting for wets as only 10 cars were happy with their tyre choice and took to the grid after the green flag lap.

Magnussen showed his intent early with a lightning start from the fifth place to catapult to second behind pole man Nasr. The competitive duo unfortunately made contact for a second time this weekend, following a clash at the Esses on lap one. Both drivers struggled to recover, which allowed rookie Harvey to steal through into the lead, with team mate Svendsen-Cook following him through to take up second place.

Following their accident, Magnussen was now third, while Nasr had dropped to 10th. Magnussen was keen to make up the positions though and was putting Svendsen-Cook under pressure, with the Brit withstanding the pressure well until a small mistake in the increasingly wet conditions allowed Magnussen through into second with Svendsen-Cook dropping to fourth behind Double R’s Pipo Derani.

Despite the deteriorating conditions, Magnussen was still on a charge and started to close in on Harvey. The F3 rookie put up a convincing defence for several laps to keep the Dane behind him, but after a prolonged attack Magnussen finally took the lead on lap nine.

Harvey was still on for a strong finish in second place, until a battery failure caused his race to come to a premature halt robbing him of a certain podium finish. That elevated Svendsen-Cook to third, and Huertas to fourth.

Nasr meanwhile was still busy recovering from his incident with Magnussen and was ninth after an action packed race which also feature a couple of spins, while Jaafar was just behind in ninth after a spin late on in what had been a solid outing for the young Malaysian.

Reflecting on his sixth victory of the season, Magnussen said, “It was a vey difficult race today and required a lot of concentration in the very bad conditions. As the weather got worse, it was really about not making any mistakes and bringing the car home. It is an important stage in the season now and these points are important for the fight for second place in the standings.”

Talented single-seater racer Menasheh Idafar produced a memorable drive in a rain-affected 26th round of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit today, Sunday, 25th September, to brilliantly secure his third podium finish of 2011.

Lining-up on the sixth row of the grid in 11th position, the always entertaining British-born Bahraini delivered a sensational performance in the first of the day’s two races to scythe his way through the order and finish within just 0.182 seconds of equaling his previous F3 career-best of second place.

Rain ahead of the race meant wet-weather tyres were the only option and following a great start, the 20-year-old rapidly climbed into seventh place on the opening lap before producing a terrific pass on Carlos Huertas at Melbourne Hairpin to take sixth.

Driving beautifully, the T-Sport sensation pressured Jazeman Jaafar for fifth and gained the place on lap two before immediately setting off after Harry Tincknell. Swiftly closing in, Menasheh posted lap times second only to race leader – and 2011 GP3 Series Champion – Valtteri Bottas at that point and continued to find more and more pace with each tour of the 2.5-mile track.

By lap nine he was on the tail of the three car battle ahead, Tincknell, Will Buller and Scott Pye, with the latter Menasheh’s new target after some place swapping. Then, at McLeans on lap 10, Tincknell and Pye made contact which opened the way for Menasheh to take third place.

Within 1.7 seconds of Buller, he pressed on at the wheel of his Dallara-Volkswagen and closed the gap down to just 0.9 seconds into the penultimate lap. By the time they reached the hairpin, the two were nose-to-tail and after shadowing Buller throughout the final lap Menasheh almost managed to take second place at the hairpin when the Northern Irishman went wide on the exit as he defended.

Crossing the line less than two 10ths of a second adrift, Menasheh’s sensational drive from 11th to third marked possibly his best performance of the season and stands as a big confidence boost prior to the championship finale at Silverstone a fortnight from now.

“My start was ok, it should have been better but it was good enough”, said Menasheh, “The race went really well, the first lap was great and I was really pleased with the pass on Carlos (Huertas); the one on Jazeman (Jaafar) at McLeans was really good too.

“When Tincknell and Pye came together, they spun across and nearly wiped me out – it was really lucky! The car felt good though, the tyres were finished towards the end as the track dried more and more but it was a great race and fantastic to be back on the podium.”

During the second of the day’s races, round 27, Menasheh again delivered a strong account of himself after fighting through the order to 11th place following a pit-stop to change from slick tyres to wets at the end of the green flag formation lap.

Scheduled to line-up 14th on the grid, rain started to fall ahead of the race and worsened as the drivers headed off on the sighting lap. Following his stop, Menasheh joined the action down in 19th position and a long way adrift of the next car but he mounted another impressive drive and by lap six he was into 16th place.

Up into 15th on lap seven, past team-mate Yann Cunha, he closed down the gap to Max Snegirev before passing the Russian around the outside at Redgate Corner with a tremendous move. Setting the fastest lap of the race on the 11th tour, Menasheh confirmed his superb pace in the challenging conditions although this was bettered by Bottas later on.

Moving into the top 12 on the penultimate lap, the 2010 National Class Champion reeled in the group of cars ahead and at the finish he was just 1.6 seconds shy of Jaafar – a great recovery from his early pit-stop. After the race, Menasheh was promoted to 11th position due to a time penalty for Tincknell linked to a starting procedure infringement.

Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire will host the final three rounds of the British F3 season a fortnight from now over the weekend 8th/9th October. The championship will run in support of the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd27):
14th Menasheh Idafar, 41pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography

Menasheh Idafar delivered one of his best performances of the season at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit this afternoon, Saturday, 24th September, during round 25 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series – although a deserved top seven finish became 11th post-race due to a penalty.

Making a sensational start to the first of the weekend’s three races, the T-Sport driver got away from his eighth row grid slot brilliantly and by the end of the first lap he had climbed from 16th place to the fringe of the top 10.

On lap two, contact between recently crowned 2011 Champion Felipe Nasr and his team-mate Kevin Magnussen at Melbourne Hairpin dropped the former down into 10th place and at the next corner, Goddards, Menasheh saw his chance and sliced up the inside of the Brazilian to take the position.

Magnussen then pitted on the following tour, thus hoisting Menasheh into ninth place, as the 20-year-old set about pressuring Pipo Derani. Driving well and producing competitive lap times, the British-born Bahraini held a gap of roughly 0.7 seconds to Derani for the next half a dozen laps before a mistake for Will Buller promoted both.

Now running in the top eight, Menasheh continued to push hard as he sought to keep Derani under pressure but with overtaking opportunities seriously limited the battle enabled Harry Tincknell and the recovering Buller to close in.

Handling the pressure impressively, while maintaining his challenge for seventh, the opportunity Menasheh had been waiting for presented itself on lap 18. Getting terrific drive out of the Fogarty Esses and closing right-up behind Derani, he went for the inside into the hairpin but as the two cars reached the apex there was contact which resulted in the South American losing several places.

After repelling an attempted pass by Tincknell at Redgate Corner on the following lap, Menasheh was able to get back into his rhythm and seventh place was secured – which also meant he sealed a front-row starting slot for Sunday morning’s race by virtue of the top eight finishers being ‘reversed’ to determine the first four rows of the round 26 grid.

Disappointingly, the Dallara-Volkswagen driver was deemed culpable for the contact on lap 18 with Derani and championship officials served Menasheh with an unfortunate 3.5 second penalty to drop him to 11th in the final classification. Therefore, he starts round 26 tomorrow from 11th place.

“We had a really great race today, really good, so to lose the seventh place is frustrating”, Menasheh commented, “It’s one of those things though, you can’t do anything about it. The start was great and the first lap went really well so it’s a big shame to lose the result. I’m pleased with our performance though, we’ll be trying as hard as ever tomorrow.”

Round 26 of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series will get underway at 10.15 tomorrow, Sunday, 25th September, with round 27 – which Menasheh will begin from 14th on the grid – following at 13.40. Live timing for both races can be viewed online at www.tsl-timing.com

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd25):
=14th Menasheh Idafar & Hywel Lloyd, 33pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography

Dallara-Volkswagen driver Menasheh Idafar got his preparations for this weekend’s Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series races at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit off to a trouble-free start today, Thursday, 22nd September, during official testing at the East Midlands venue.

In this morning’s opening 55-minute session on the 2.48-mile track, the 20-year-old posted a best lap of 1m24.906 seconds (105.46mph) in his T-Sport machine to go 14th on the timesheets and 0.4 seconds shy of the top 10.

Session two this afternoon, which took place in dry conditions like the first, delivered improvements for each of the 21 drivers and Menasheh was able to slice 0.9 seconds off his morning best with a lap of 1m24.062 seconds (106.52mph) to move up to 13th quickest.

Although edging the British-born Bahraini a 10th of a second nearer the overall top 10 for the day, he did end the test disappointed not to be further up the order. Now, he’ll be working hard with the team engineers to find more pace ahead of qualifying and the first race of the weekend which takes place on Saturday, 24th September.

“Overall it was an ok day but we’re not where we wanted to be”, said Menasheh, “We’re going to look through all of the data to see where we can make some improvements with the car and see where I’m losing time. Hopefully we can make some good changes before qualifying on Saturday.”

The British F3 runners will be back in action at 10.40 on Saturday morning for the all-important qualifying session with the first race of the weekend at Donington, round 25, scheduled to get underway at 15.40. On Sunday, 25th September, round 26 will begin at 10.15 while round 27 will follow at 13.40.

Live timing of all of the weekend’s action will be available online at www.tsl-timing.com

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd24):
=14th Menasheh Idafar & Hywel Lloyd, 33pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography

Menasheh Idafar added more points to his Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series total at Rockingham in Northamptonshire today, Sunday, 4th September, with a very competitive seventh place finish during round 23 of the 2011 season.

Backing up a very solid ninth position during Saturday’s first race of the weekend, the T-Sport driver was in terrific form in wet conditions this morning and after a superb start from ninth on the grid he immediately climbed into the top four.

Confirming his good pace at the 1.94-mile track, the 20-year-old ran within just 1.5 seconds of the soon to be crowned 2011 British F3 Champion Felipe Nasr and looked very well placed for one of his best finishes of the season. On lap three though, Menasheh received contact from behind which dropped him to sixth place.

Disappointed but undeterred, the Dallara-Volkswagen driver pressed on and although slipping behind Carlos Huertas on lap six he maintained seventh position thereafter to secure his second points scoring finish of the weekend.

“We had really good pace and the car was working well”, said Menasheh, “I made an amazing start, really good, and got up into fourth but I was hit after about three laps and that dropped me down to sixth. I was disappointed to slip behind (Carlos) Huertas but in the end seventh was ok.”

Round 24 was less fruitful for the British-born-Bahraini when yet more unfortunate contact resulted in a lap one retirement. Lining up 12th on the grid, the 2010 National Class title winner was first hit at the start and had to take avoiding action to ensure he didn’t make contact with the pitwall. Losing some ground but without too much drama, he was then pushed off into the gravel at turn three.

Menasheh added: “It was a real shame about the second race today, it all got quite messy at the start with one car cutting across me and then pushing me towards the wall. I backed off to avoid anything but then, at turn three, I was on the outside and got pushed off the track. There wasn’t any damage but I was stuck in the gravel. It’s disappointing but overall it wasn’t a bad weekend.”

Menasheh will be back in action three weeks from now at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in the East Midlands with rounds 25, 26 and 27 taking place on 24th/25th September.

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd24):
=14th Menasheh Idafar & Hywel Lloyd, 33pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series front-runner Menasheh Idafar made a welcome return to the points at Rockingham this afternoon, Saturday, 3rd September, after an impressively strong drive to ninth position in round 22 of the season.

Arriving at the Northamptonshire track aiming to get back inside the top 10 after a run of misfortune during the previous three events at Germany’s Nurburgring, Paul Ricard in France and Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps, the 20-year-old did just that with a highly competitive performance today.

In this morning’s qualifying session, which took place under overcast skies, Menasheh lapped with the 12th fastest time of 1m12.830 seconds (95.89mph) to end the session just 0.072 seconds shy of the top 10 – an improvement of four 10ths of a second on his best from pre-event practice.

His incredibly consistent second best time of 1m12.854 seconds (95.86mph), used to determine grid positions for the first of the weekend’s three races, was good enough for an improved 11th fastest and only a mere 0.005 seconds away from the coveted top 10.

Round 22 started well for the T-Sport driver as he climbed into ninth place, including a terrific move around the outside of Will Buller at turn three, and this became eighth position on lap three when Kevin Magnussen suffered a spin.

Following a short Safety Car period, Menasheh held eighth but he wasn’t as comfortable as during the opening laps. He therefore lost a couple of places before the finish on lap 23 but managed to hold on to the coveted top 10 in his Dallara-Volkswagen. This later became ninth position though when a time penalty was applied to Buller for failing to observe a mid-race drive-through penalty.

“It was a good race today, I had a good start and felt really strong for the first few laps”, explained Menasheh, “I was able to pass a few guys and pull away but after the Safety Car I lost my rhythm a bit and so I wasn’t able to go as well as I had been before. I’m really pleased to be back in the points though, the car has been working well so far this weekend – it’s been a great start.”

Round 23 of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series is scheduled to get start at 11.00 tomorrow, Sunday, 4th September, with round 24 following at 14.50. Visit www.tsl-timing.com for full live timing of the entire event. Thanks to his ninth place finish today, Menasheh will begin the first race from the fifth row of the grid while for the final outing he will start in 12th position on row six.

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Carlin driver Jazeman Jaafar found himself topping two of the three practice sessions today for the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Championship at Rockingham. Practice one saw Jaafar take the top spot with his Carlin team mates not far behind, and all within the top eight. Practice two was interrupted by two red flags however the Carlin drivers were again high in the timings. Practice three once again saw all Carlin drivers in great positions and Jaafar taking the top spot.

The day got off to a great start for the Carlin team as Carlos Huertas became the early pace setter during free practice one, putting in some great times he stayed at the top of the leader board for the opening few laps. However the Colombian soon found competition in the form of team mate Jack Harvey who, after 6 laps around the Rockingham Speedway, moved ahead.

With 30 minutes remaining all Carlin drivers were sitting in top eight positions – Harvey still on the top spot with Huertas not far behind.

Huertas became the first man to set a lap time in the 1 minute 12’s with a time of 1:12.932 and as had been the case for most of the session Harvey also followed suit however was just slightly off of the Colombians best time.

To shake-up the order Jaafar set the fastest lap with just under 20 minutes remaining – 5 minutes later and the Carlin drivers had locked-out the top 6 positions. Kevin Magnussen had moved up to third place and was switching positions with Huertas regularly while Felipe Nasr and Rupert Svendsen-Cook rounded off the top 6.

A red flag with eight minutes remaining however halted the progress of many drivers meaning the final positions didn’t improve. Jaafar was fastest from Magnussen and Svendsen-Cook in second and third respectively while close behind was Huertas. Harvey lay in sixth position while Nasr was eighth.

The second practice session of the day once again saw Carlin men set the pace early on. Svendsen-Cook set the fastest time on lap 6 with Jaafar close behind. On only his third lap Nasr jumped into second position and then went quickest on the next lap before the track went red once again.

Nasr was knocked off the top spot as Pietro Fantin set the fastest time of the session, a position he would continue to hold on as the chequered flag fell.

Svendsen-Cook gave Fantin something to think about when he set the quickest lap with twelve minutes remaining however this time was immediately bettered by team mate Jaafar. Fantin managed to push both Carlin men down a position leaving Jaafar second and Svendsen-Cook third. Meanwhile Nasr had been setting some great purple sectors however he was unable to find the perfect lap and finished the session in fourth place.

Another red flag with two minutes remaining brought racing to an abrupt end. Magnussen and Huertas laid sixth and seventh while Harvey was just outside the top ten in 11th.

Practice three once again saw Jaafar topping the sheets in a session which saw him, Magnussen and Harvey swapping quick sector times at the beginning. With ten minutes of the session gone, Carlin drivers had locked-out positions 2 through to 7.

Magnussen came in for a new set of tyres and immediately was setting fast lap times, and getting quicker with each lap – he went quickest and held this position for quite a while through the session.

Petronas backed driver Jaafar took the position off the young Dane on his eighteenth lap (this was also the fastest lap of the day) and held on to the top spot throughout the rest of the session. Svendsen-Cook finished off a Carlin 1-2-3 while Harvey, Huertas and Nasr finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Reflecting on his successful day, Jazeman Jaafar said, ‘The weekend has started very positive, we had a great balance in the car which felt great to drive. The track kept getting quicker and quicker throughout the session.

‘Looking ahead to tomorrow’s qualifying we’re in a really good position, we just have to stay focused for that.’

The 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula Three action re-starts tomorrow at 10.35 as qualifying gets underway.

Five long weeks since the previous three rounds of Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series action, the season resumed at Rockingham in Northamptonshire today, Friday, 2nd September, with Menasheh Idafar lapping only half a second shy of the outright pace during official practice.

Ahead of the weekend’s 22nd, 23rd and 24th rounds of the season at the Corby track, the 20-year-old was consistently strong at the wheel of his Volkswagen-engined Dallara F311 and concluded the day with the 11th fastest time of 1m13.229 seconds (95.37mph).

Like the majority of drivers Menasheh produced his best effort of the day during the first of the three sessions and after lapping 10th quickest during the opening run, he delivered a similarly strong top 12 performance in session two.

During the final track outing of the day though, he wasn’t able to improve on his morning best when his new tyre runs were affected by traffic. Even so, the T-Sport racer was very happy with his performance as he wrapped up the test a mere 0.056 seconds shy of the overall top 10 and only 0.5 seconds away from the top of the combined timesheets.

“It’s been a good day, my runs on new tyres got ruined by traffic coming out of the pits in front of me but there’s nothing you can do about that”, said Menasheh, “I’m happy with how things went and the car felt really good, much better than last time, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. ”

Qualifying for the weekend’s races will get underway at 10.35 tomorrow, Saturday, 3rd September, with round 22 expected to commence at 14.50. On Sunday, 4th September, round 23 will begin at 11.00 with round 24 following at 14.50 – all of the weekend’s action can be followed online through live timing at www.tsl-timing.com

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd21):
15th Menasheh Idafar, 27pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Menasheh Idafar concluded a very difficult weekend at Spa-Francorchamps with a positive race finish during round 21 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series this afternoon, Saturday, 30th July.

Unable to build on the promise shown in pre-event testing during qualifying and the first two races yesterday, the British-born Bahraini was determined to secure a strong result and he did manage to achieve that – battling through from the back of the grid to end up the 14th placed British F3 runner.

Along with forming the seventh race meeting of the British F3 campaign, this weekend’s event in Belgium has also been part of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy meaning several drivers also took part from the F3 Euroseries.

In some ways that was bad news for Menasheh, when taking into account his unfortunate excursion in qualifying on Friday, as it meant starting today’s race in 27th position on the final row of the gird and with a lot of hard work ahead in the 40-minute encounter.

Making a good getaway and threading his Dallara-Volkswagen neatly through the opening lap, the 20-year-old made his way into the overall top 20 but slipped back to 22nd on lap two. Passing Pietro Fantin on lap three to take 21st place, a moment on lap four lost Menasheh the spot but he gained again when Pipo Derani encountered problems.

Running just outside the top 20 at mid-distance, on lap 10 the T-Sport driver moved into 20th place when F3 Euroseries competitor Carlos Munoz pitted and Menasheh stayed there to the chequered flag on lap 17 – therefore finishing 14th of the British F3 drivers.

“I’m happy we managed to get through the race and finish after the way things went yesterday”, said Menasheh, “It’s been a really tough weekend, we started off well in testing but then it all started to go wrong. Coming through from the back today wasn’t too bad, especially as our tyres weren’t great after the contact in the race yesterday. It’s been a positive end.”

There is now a five week break in the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series calendar with rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the season seeing the championship return to the UK with a visit to Rockingham in Northamptonshire on 3rd/4th September.

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd21):
15th Menasheh Idafar, 27pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Two enforced retirements during rounds 19 and 20 of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Spa-Francorchamps today, Friday, 29th July, dealt a bitter blow to Menasheh Idafar’s hopes for the weekend – all after having made a very promising start in pre-event testing.

Following a strong practice run on Thursday, 28th July, where he was the eighth quickest British F3 racer – the action in Belgium also featuring drivers from the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy – the 20-year-old hoped for a similarly impressive performance in qualifying.

Unfortunately, an excursion on his fifth lap of the session meant Menasheh was unable to post a representative time and so he had to start the first of the weekend’s encounters from the tail end of the grid and with a huge task on his hands to carve his way through the 28-car field.

Undeterred, the T-Sport driver produced a sensational opening lap to climb to the fringe of the top 20 and after gaining further places on the next two tours he looked set to make significant inroads. Rising as high as 17th position, Menasheh was involved in a moment on lap six which dropped him to 20th but his recovery ended soon after when he was pitched into retirement on lap nine.

With the finishing order from race one determining the grid for race two, round 20, he again had a fight on his hands – especially with the race being the shortest of the weekend at just 20-minutes duration. Once more, his start was good and the British-born Bahraini climbed from 25th on the grid into 18th position but contact on lap five resulted in a visit to the pits and another non-finish.

“It’s been a really disappointing day but there’s always a chance of contact when you’re starting so far down”, said the Dallara-Volkswagen driver, “We just need to give it our best shot tomorrow and see what happens. We start at the back again so it’ll be tough but we’ll try really hard to end the weekend with a good result.”

Round 21, the final race of the Spa-Francorchamps weekend, will take place at 12.40 (local time) tomorrow, Saturday, 30th July. Due to forming part of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, the action will also be screened live across Europe on Motors TV – check www.motorstv.com for details.

Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd20):
15th Menasheh Idafar, 27pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.