Vergne the First Frenchman to win Cooper Tires British F3 Series

Red Bull Junior driver Jean-Eric Vergne has become the first Frenchman to win the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Series, after wrapping up the title with three races still to run at Brands Hatch on 25-26 September. Vergne could break the all-time record number of British F3 wins in a season. “To be the first Frenchman to win such a prestigious championship feels incredible,” said Vergne. “It's been an amazing season so far; big big thanks to all the guys from Carlin. We didn't make any mistakes this season; they provided me with a fantastic car, which is why we have been able to win the championship so early.”

Vergne is the third Red-Bull backed driver to win the championship for the Carlin team in three years, following in the footsteps of Jaime Alguersuari, who is now a Toro Rosso F1 driver and Daniel Ricciardo who, after winning last year’s championship, has become Red Bull Racing’s official test driver.

From the moment the season began at Oulton Park at Easter, Vergne was the clear favourite, claiming two pole positions and two wins from the opening three races. Since then he has clocked up a total of 13 wins from the 27 races so far, just one victory behind the all-time record of 14, set by Jan Magnussen in 1994.

Vergne’s team boss, Trevor Carlin, said, “Jean-Eric has been a force to be reckoned with this season. He showed his intent early on by taking two race wins at Oulton Park and his charge to the title has been relentless. Our aim now is to finish second in the championship with James Calado and help our other drivers finish as high up the order as possible. I’d like to thank everyone in the team, our suppliers and, of course, Volkswagen Motorsport for helping us provide our drivers with such a dominant package this season.”

With the championship wrapped up, focus now switches to the three-way battle for second place, between British racers Calado and Oliver Webb, plus Brazil’s Adriano Buzaid. It was Fortec Motorsport’s Webb who had the momentum early in the year, with two wins and five second places from the opening nine rounds. Since then, things have swung in Calado’s favour, with the Carlin racer moving into second place and holding on to a 29-point lead as the series heads into the last three races. Buzaid, the third Carlin racer in the top four, came into contention after a strong weekend at Snetterton and now lies just eight points behind Webb.