Douglas Motorsport grabbed a brace of podium finishes and a strong points haul across the latest four BRDC British F3 Championship races at Brands Hatch last weekend (29/30 August) to close in on the series lead.

The Corby-based team entered the latest four races of the season off the back of a second win in as many meetings most recently at Donington Park, and took to the Kent circuit hoping to add further silverware to the collection.

Kiern Jewiss showed his local knowledge with strong testing pace, as did Donington Park winner Ulysse De Pauw who headed the times before a dramatic Friday downpour. Qualifying the following morning was held in wet, but drying conditions, during which all three Douglas Motorsport cars battled for the top spot.

A late flurry of laps bumped De Pauw up the order to third place for the day’s opening race later that Saturday afternoon, with Jordanian Manaf Hijjawi pumping in an excellent lap to start fourth ahead of Jewiss, who had chopped and changed the top spot for much of the session.

When the lights went out for race one, De Pauw maintained his third place before the safety car made an appearance, while Jewiss moved ahead of Hijjawi who ran wide at Druids in the shuffle for places on the first lap.

De Pauw gave chase to the leaders on the restart on his way to a third podium finish of the season. Jewiss came home a solid fifth to close on the championship lead on a poor meeting for former leader Kaylen Frederick.

Hijjawi finished 12th after his opening lap troubles, but that gave him a chance to shine in the second race of the day as the reverse grid moved him up to a starting position of third. A light shower mid-race made it difficult for the whole field, but it did not stop the Douglas cars from charging through the field as both Jewiss and De Pauw picked off their rivals in the first half of the race.

Jewiss collected more crucial points by moving up from 10th to fifth place, while De Pauw carved his way through from 12th to seventh with a similarly inspired show of overtaking, also setting the fastest lap of the race at the final time of asking. Running as high as fourth early on, Hijjawi finished 16th after losing ground in the battle raging behind.

Jewiss continued to rack up points with another top-five finish in the third race the following day, briefly moving into third place in the restarted race with a brave lunge around the outside of two cars at Paddock Hill Bend, only to be squeezed back down to fifth at Druids where he would finish. De Pauw and Hijjawi did not finish, the latter cruelly eliminated by a collision occurring behind him.

De Pauw saved his best performance until last meanwhile as he picked up the team’s best result of the weekend in the fourth and final race from third on the grid. The Belgian youngster jumped up to second spot at the start and remained there until the flag for a second podium of the weekend, Jewiss moving up two places to fourth while Hijjawi failed to finish.

The weekend in Kent moves Jewiss up to second in the BRDC British F3 Championship standings as the series next heads back to Donington Park for three races around the Grand Prix circuit (19/20 September).

Ulysse De Pauw battled the elements at Donington Park last weekend (15/16 August) to grab a sensational maiden BRDC British F3 Championship victory as Douglas Motorsport picked up a second triumph in as many meetings.

The Corby-based team entered the latest trio of races at the Leicestershire circuit buoyed on by a victory for Kiern Jewiss in the season-opening round at Oulton Park two weeks prior.

Entering just eight points off the series lead, it was Jewiss who headed the Douglas charge in Saturday’s 20-minute qualifying session with a quickfire pair of flying laps late on to jump up to sixth overall, becoming fifth after penalties were later applied to a number of rivals. Jordanian Manaf Hijjawi impressed throughout testing and was a mere 0.4s from pole position in 11th, with Ulysse De Pauw 12th.

The three shifted their attentions to race one later that Saturday, a race in which problems for championship leader Kaylen Frederick allowed Jewiss to pounce in the opening laps. The BRDC SuperStar chased the top four hard to take the flag in fifth place, sealing crucial championship points in doing so.

Hijjawi and De Pauw fought hard to make up ground in the opening 12-lapper, the former recovering several spots following a hectic opening lap to finish 13th. De Pauw was forced to pit to replace a damaged front wing sustained in combat, but posted the fastest lap of the only dry race of the weekend on his way to 18th place. That secured him pole position for Sunday’s reverse grid second race.

The Belgian youngster took full advantage of it and charged into a clear lead when the lights went out, pulling out a lead of over seven seconds on the field. Controlling the pace, De Pauw’s wet weather prowess paid off as he held off a chasing Frederick for a richly-deserved maiden British F3 victory.
 
He could have been joined on the podium by team-mate Hijjawi as the Jordanian superbly picked off several rivals in the opening laps to move up to third, but unfortunately spun into the barriers in the treacherous conditions at Old Hairpin on lap three when in sight of second spot. Having started 14th, Jewiss gained two spots on his way to 12th by the flag.

Race three’s grid was decided by the second best times set in qualifying, putting Jewiss fourth on grid where he formed part of an intense five-car dice for second spot. Cutting back inside Louis Foster for fourth, Jewiss attempted a last-lap pass around the outside Josh Skelton for the final podium position at the chicane, but was forced to bounce across the run-off area and took the flag a fighting fifth.

Hijjawi and De Pauw started in their race one grid positions of 11th and 12th respectively and found themselves similarly in a frenetic scrap for placings, De Pauw rising up to eighth place while Hijjawi finished 15th.

Jewiss sits third in the standings while De Pauw climbs to eighth with his victory, as the British F3 Championship heads to Brands Hatch GP circuit in two weeks’ time (29/30 August).

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Douglas Motorsport celebrated a stunning one-two finish in the opening weekend of the 2020 BRDC British F3 Championship season at Oulton Park, with a milestone meeting also seeing them surpass 100 races in the series.

The Corby-based team’s return to the iconic Cheshire circuit marked the first time in almost a year that F3 cars raced in anger, after the global COVID-19 pandemic forced the season to be delayed by over three months. 

Kiern Jewiss headed the Douglas trio’s charge in qualifying on Saturday, grabbing the best grid slot in fourth ahead of Belgian team-mate Ulysee De Pauw. Jordanian rookie Manaf Hijjawi also made a mark as he broke into the top 10 on his debut.

18-year-old Jewiss then proceeded to charge up to third place in the early stages of the weekend’s opening race later on Saturday afternoon, tailed all the way to the flag by team-mate De Pauw to ensure a double podium after a jump-start penalty was applied to second-placed Louis Foster.

That would not be the end of the story however, as the pair were promoted further by a similar post-race penalty applied to Kaylen Frederick for the same offence. Jewiss therefore inherited his second BRDC British F3 victory from De Pauw, while Hijjawi unfortunately fell from ninth to 16th after also being adjudged to have jumped the start.

The reverse grid made race two tougher to match the early success. De Pauw finished best of the Douglas trio after climbing two spots during the race to 11th, with Jewiss 13th after starting down the field for winning the opening contest.

Race three on Sunday marked the team’s 100th start in BRDC British F3, and they looked to have been rewarded with another podium from the impressive De Pauw. He finished third overall after a rapid getaway, however sadly the podium was taken from him for a yellow flag infringement. This promoted Jewiss to fourth place on the final results.

Jewiss made up ground from seventh on the grid in the final race of the weekend to finish fifth and further confirm his title credentials. De Pauw fought his way to 11th among the train of F3 cars squabbling for places, while Hijjawi clinched two 13th place finishes on Sunday in his recovery from Saturday’s setbacks.

A consistent weekend leaves Jewiss second in the British F3 Championship standings after the first four races of the season, just eight points adrift of the series lead as the team heads to Donington Park in two weeks (15/16 August) for another quartet of races.

Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Douglas Motorsport have finished runners up in the 2020 British F3 iRacing Championship’s Teams’ standings following a stunning four podium finishes from two races across the season finale at Donington Park last night (14th June).

A sensational fightback from the Corby-based team has seen them recover from only scoring five points in the opening two races of the year to finish only six points shy of championship glory after recording no less than ten podium finishes across the last eight races.

Leading the challenge was full-season contenders Harrison Scott and Ulysse De Pauw, who went on to end the campaign in third and fourth respectively in the championship standings, while Callan O’Keeffe brought his two-event spell in the series to a close with a maiden podium finish.

The Donington Park Grand Prix played host to rounds nine and ten, with De Pauw setting the pace for the Douglas team as he posted the fastest time overall in official free practice, before putting himself third on the grid for the opening race.

The Belgian ace maintained position on a busy opening lap before slipping into second at the start of lap two, while behind Scott was also making progress as he rose from sixth on the grid to fourth within the opening two laps.

The former BRDC British F4 race-winner soon began hunting down Jake Dalton for the final podium position and grabbed the position into Redgate on lap 11. From there, the team-mates coasted home to a double podium finish for the third time this season.

O’Keeffe meanwhile enjoyed a brilliant opening lap as he rose from 17th to eighth in his blue and white machine, however he was unable to capitalise on the great start as an incident soon after forced him to make a pitstop and ultimately finish in 22nd.

The silver lining for the South African was that the full reverse grid for race two meant he kicked off proceedings in third position. Holding the place for the first few laps, a great drive down the inside at the Melbourne Hairpin on lap four gave him second spot.

Behind, De Pauw and Scott made immediate progress up the order from the final places on the grid. The former rose from 23rd to ninth at one point, however an ambitious move from a rival pushed him wide and ultimately led to a spin. He went on to recover from 19th to eighth at the finish.

Scott meanwhile was a man on a mission in his quest to finish runner-up in the championship standings. From 22nd at the start, he was sensationally into the top ten by the end of lap one and had settled into fifth by the time lap five came around.

A few laps later he was into the final podium position and he stayed there for the remainder of the race to complete a double podium finish behind O’Keeffe. Agonisingly it wasn’t quite enough to secure him the coveted vice-champion honours though as he tied points with Piers Prior, the latter getting second on countback.

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Douglas Motorsport have carried on their fantastic run of form in the British F3 iRacing Championship with a pair of podium finishes during the penultimate meeting of the season at Brands Hatch yesterday (7th June).

The Corby-based team have been one of the teams to beat throughout the official sim racing series of the BRDC British F3 Championship, with team-mates Ulysse De Pauw and Harrison Scott both being regular fixtures at the front of the grid.

For Brands Hatch they were joined by Callan O’Keeffe, a former podium finisher in British F3 with the Douglas Motorsport. The South African ace settled well into the field and qualified 15th overall, while De Pauw and Scott finished up fourth and sixth respectively.

A great start to proceedings saw the leading duo establish themselves in the top four over the first half of the race, before Scott pulled off what the commentators described as the “move of the season” as he swept around the outside of his team-mate at the high-speed Hawthorns corner.

Three laps later Scott pulled off another standout move at the same corner as a perfectly executed switchback secured him second place from Jake Dalton. As he held that to the finish, De Pauw overtook Dalton on the final lap to complete a double podium finish for the team.

After an unfortunate incident led to an early retirement in race one, O’Keeffe was determined to bounce back in race two. He was in a prime position to do so too, as the full reverse grid placed him on the front row alongside guest driver Jonny Adam.

After a strong start saw him maintain second through the opening laps, sadly a spin while hunting down the race leader dropped him to sixth place. Another moment later in the race led to a pitstop, but he showed good pace in the closing laps to finish in 19th.

It was a tough race for De Pauw too, with front wing damage caused by a spinning car ahead of him eventually costing him over two seconds a lap to the other cars. The Belgian ace went on to take the chequered flag in 16th after a determined drive.

Race two therefore belonged to Scott, who produced a sensational drive through the field after starting on the back row of the grid in P24. Gaining nine places on the opening lap alone, the former BRDC British F4 race-winner was into the top ten on lap two.

Scott continued to make great progress and got into fifth at mid-distance, before holding position to the finish. That result moves him up to third in the points standings with De Pauw in fourth, while Douglas Motorsport remain third in the Teams standings.

The British F3 iRacing Championship concludes this Sunday (14th June) with rounds nine and ten at Donington Park.

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.