CDR back in the top 10 at Silverstone

Chris Dittmann Racing’s (CDR) BRDC British Formula 3 Championship team returned to the top 10 in all three of last weekend’s races at Silverstone, as the Tewkesbury squad bounced back strongly from a difficult prior round at Snetterton. Both of the team’s drivers were able to cash in and finish in the top-ten, putting the squad in a positive position ahead of the championship’s imminent month-long break.

Young Briton Omar Ismail was CDR’s lead qualifier on Saturday morning, securing 13th place on the grid for the weekend’s opening race, with Kenya’s Jeremy Wahome not far behind in 15th. This result didn’t offer a true reflection of the CDR cars’ pace as both drivers faced difficulties whilst trying to adapt to a change of weather conditions just ahead of the session. At a vast venue like Silverstone, any change of wind direction can alter the circuit’s characteristics and both ismail and Wahome were blighted by a lack of experience in such circumstances.

As a result of their race one performance, Ismail and Wahome were to line up 10th and 11th for the second race of the weekend on Saturday morning. The Kenyan racer made another terrific start to rise to ninth position on the first lap, and he gained another position the following time around to secure eighth place, a position he would hold until the end of the race. Ismail achieved another points-scoring position just behind in 12th place.

Wahome led the charge in Sunday’s final race too, starting from 13th position, and surging from his grid position to 10th in the early exchanges. It didn’t take him long to rise another place to ninth, and both CDR cars circulated in the top 10 with Ismail following closely behind for much of the race distance. Unfortunately, Ismail was shuffled down the order in the closing stages to finish 12th, but Wahome remained composed to lock down a second consecutive top-10 result.

Both drivers scored points in all three races of the weekend, with Ismail remaining seventh overall in the championship standings.

Team Principal Chris Dittmann said: “It was good to score well with both drivers in all three races this weekend following a tricky one at Snetterton. Jeremy produced one of his most impressive weekends to date and was a real factor in the top 10, whilst Omar was unlucky to not quite match his team-mate’s tally for the weekend.

“Overall, the season so far has been bittersweet as we’ve had good pace but things just haven’t gone how we’d have liked. We’re not racing in BRDC F3 now for a whole month ahead of Spa to and we’ll be aiming to recharge a few batteries and come out fighting there –it’s a great track!”

CDR’s BRDC British F3 campaign heads to another current F1 venue next as the championship makes its annual trip abroad to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium on 7-8 July.

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