Chris Dittmann Racing claimed its first podium result of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship season at Rockingham last weekend, with Omar Ismail claiming a second place finish in what was a strong weekend overall for the Gloucestershire team in the UK’s leading single-seater championship.

The Tewkesbury outfit’s cars were quick from the off at the Northamptonshire circuit, with Ismail narrowly missing out on pole position by just two-tenths-of-a-second with a fine qualifying performance. The young Briton’s performance was still enough to secure second position on the grid for the opening race of the year, however, building confidently on the pace he showed during the opening round of the championship at Oulton Park.

Kenyan Jeremy Wahome lined up 14th on the grid during the truncated qualifying session, which was red-flagged following an incident involving another driver, preventing any late improvements.

Ismail followed up his scintillating qualifying pace with a great getaway in the opening race of the weekend on Saturday, and he was challenging for the lead into the first corner of the race. He was pushed wide on the exit, which compromised his run out of the bend and caused him to drop back. From here Omar put in a solid drive to sixth position, securing more championship points and a third-place start for the second race of the weekend.

Wahome continued his reliable start to the season by bringing his car home in 16th place to continue his run of points-scoring finishes.

The result of the weekend came in Sunday morning’s second race of the weekend, where Ismail was able to seize the opportunity presented by a start from third on the grid, and storm from third to the race lead. Ismail controlled the race at the front for much of the distance before losing ground to Cameron Das, who was on fresher tyres. Despite this, Ismail was still able to seal an impressive second place – both his, and CDR’s first podium finish in the revived BRDC British F3 Championship.

Unfortunately, Ismail’s stunning run of results was to end there, as he was eliminated from the reckoning in the final race of the weekend as the blameless victim in an on-track clash with Manuel Maldonado, who was later excluded for his part in the melee. Despite this mishap, Omar still leaves Rockingham in seventh position overall in the standings, with a very good chance of placing well overall.

Wahome, however was able to follow up a 13th place finish in race two with a career-best F3 result of sixth in the final race with a very good drive.

CDR Team Principal Chris Dittmann commented: “I’m delighted to leave Rockingham with a podium result, as I feel it’s the very least everyone at CDR deserves following a competitive start to 2017 in BRDC British F3. Omar was right in the mix all weekend and it’s a shame he was denied the chance to add to his points tally in race three, but overall it remains a very positive weekend. I

“Jeremy has come on leaps and bounds, and I was really pleased to see him claim his best BRDC British F3 result to date with that charging sixth place in race three. He’s had a very consistent start to the year and we’ll be targeting more results like this one as the year progresses.

“We’re off to Snetterton next and Omar won with us in BRDC F4 in just his second ever outing a couple of years ago, so I hope that our current form will help us recreate a bit of that magic. It’s a circuit Jeremy knows reasonably well now too, so hopefully our best results are still to come!”