Rounds 7&8 - Donington


Team West-Tec does the double at Donington

As the 2009 European F3 Open Championships visited Donington Park on the weekend of the 3rd to 5th July, Team West-Tec enjoyed a great reception from the fans as the only British team in the series. The West-Tec drivers responded magnificently dominating the feature race with wins overall and in the Copa Class, both from pole position.

Qualifying was a very competitive affair with the team's Thor-Christian Ebbesvik eventually setting the fastest lap to line up on pole. Indeed, the rapid Norwegian set two laps faster than anybody else to secure the first point of the weekend. Ebbesvik was ably backed up by Britain’s own Callum Macleod who annexed the Copa Class pole, in a feisty tenth overall with Kristjan Einar, West-Tec's final charge a little lower.

Ebbesvik made a stunning start to the main race to leap into the lead, with Celso Miguez slotting into second. Although the experienced Spaniard tried everything he could, he was never able to challenge Christian who dominated from start to finish to record his third win in the category.

Callum also made a good start to make up ground and was involved in an eventful race to finish seventh, and the clear Copa winner to reinforce his championship lead in the class for the previous generation of cars.

Einar enjoyed a topsy-turvy race, running in the points, before eventually coming home seventh in Copa.

Therefore, these were historic results for the Corby-based team as it took a remarkable pole and race-win combination - both overall and in the Copa to reinforce its competitive position in the series.

Sunday’s race was wet which gave Ebbesvik a chance to shine from his reverse-grid slot of sixth and he again impressed onlookers heavily with a quality and mature drive to run second on the final lap.
Disappointingly, an over-optimistic lunge from another driver pushed him off at the very last corner of the very last lap, although Christian recovered to the track to nurse his damaged car over the line to salvage sixth place.

Kristjan Einar proved to be a start of the race as he moved up to run well inside the top ten in the wet conditions and he eventually finished in a superb third overall in Copa Class to take his maiden podium for the team, which was a very satisfying result for the popular Icelander.

Callum had been comfortably leading the Copa Class once again, and was looking good for a top six overall when he was very unlucky to be taken out by a locked-up Keccon. Although he did well to get his damaged car back on track to finish 18th it meant an end to his fabulous run of wins, although he remains in a clear Copa Class lead in the Championship.

Thor-Christian Ebbesvik: We have been working really hard to develop our car recently, and so I was delighted to get such a great result on Saturday. Sunday should have been great too and I was fortunate to finish at all after what happened! We have made a lot of progress this weekend though and recovered some momentum in the Championship which will be great for the second half of the season.

John Miller, Co-Team Principal: Christian has not had the best of luck this year so far and the whole team is really pleased to see him back on song so emphatically. When he is in the zone he is untouchable and he was really unfortunate not to see the podium twice this weekend.
Seeing him on the top step on Saturday was fantastic after such a stunning qualifying performance, which was probably the drive of the season so far.

Callum Macleod: The circuit really favours the newer cars so seventh overall with the Copa win on Saturday was great. Sunday was a shame as we were well in the Class lead and gaining overall but it wasn’t to be.

Mike O’Brien, Engineer: We were a little disappointed to be as low as tenth in qualifying but Callum showed his class by being well clear in the Copa Class. Although Sunday was disappointing, we remain in a clear Class lead as well as holding down a top-six spot overall so it was far from a disaster.

Kristjan Einar: Saturday was a good race even though I finished lower than I perhaps should have done. Sunday was amazing and I was absolutely delighted to get on the podium. Thanks to everyone on the team for all their efforts.

Gavin Wills, Co-Team Principal: Kristjan is still very inexperienced compared to most of the other drivers, some of whom are in their fifth year in F3, but he is working hard and his natural talent is starting to come through. To get a podium was an excellent result for him and I was delighted to see him up there, as this maintains our record of all long-term drivers recording podium finishes.

John Miller, Co-Team Principal: To take pole overall and in Copa and to back that up with the two wins on Saturday was very special, particularly as we had a lot of support with us here at our home track. This is our third season in the series and we have now had 17 wins and 38 podiums which, I think, is testament to the quality throughout the team, both engineering and mechanical.

European F3 Open now takes its mid-season break, returning at Magny Cours in September, although the team will remain busy with its British F3 programme through the summer months.