1997 British Formula Three Championship

1997 British Formula 3 International Series

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1996

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1998

The 1997 British Formula Three season was the 47th British Formula Three Championship, won by Jonny Kane. The season started on 23 March at Donington Park and ended at Thruxton on 12 October following sixteen races. Kane built on a strong finish to his 1996 campaign by scoring podium finishes at each of the first six races in 1997. This would be enough to keep title rival Nicolas Minassian at bay, who was hindered by a disqualification from second place and a two-race ban for unsportsmanlike behaviour at the third round at Thruxton. The Frenchman was baulked by backmarker Michael Bentwood whilst leading, allowing Kane to overtake and take victory. After the chequered flag, the infuriated Minassian proceeded to brake-test Bentwood to a halt and hurl gravel towards the Englishman. Without having lost the 15 points awarded for second position as well as further potential points at the next two races, it is highly likely that Minassian would have been champion.

Drivers and Teams

Team	No.	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Class A
Stewart Racing	1	Jonny Kane	Dallara F397	Mugen Honda	All
	2	Peter Dumbreck			All
Fortec Motorsport	3	Ben Collins	Dallara F397	HKS Mitsubishi	All
	4	Brian Smith			All
Promatecme	5	Enrique Bernoldi	Dallara F397	Renault	All
	6	Nicolas Minassian			1-3, 6-16
		Darren Manning			4-5
Alan Docking Racing	7	Haruki Kurosawa	Dallara F397	Mugen Honda	All
	8	Yudai Igarashi			All
	11	Mark Webber			All
SpeedSport F3	9	Michael Bentwood	Dallara F397	Mugen Honda	1, 3-16
	10	Darren Manning	Dallara F396		1-3, 6-16
		Andy Priaulx			4-5
Martin Donnelly Racing	14	Mark Shaw	Dallara F397	Opel	All
	15	Mario Haberfeld			All
Carlin Motorsport	25	Henry Stanton	Dallara F397	Mugen Honda	1-9, 11, 14
		Jamie Spence			16
TOM'S	16	Giovanni Anapoli	TOM'S 037F	Toyota	1-4
		Jamie Spence			5-8
		Andy Priaulx			15-16
	17	Kevin McGarrity			1-10
	19	Darren Turner			7-13
	32	Ricardo Mauricio			7-16
DC Cook Motorsport	18	Guy Smith	Dallara F397	Opel	All
	22	Paula Cook			All
Portman Racing	21	Darren Turner	Dallara F397	HKS Mitsubishi	1-5
		Warren Hughes			9-16
	27	Alex Yoong			14-15
MRS	32	Ricardo Mauricio	Dallara F397	Mugen Honda	1-5
Intersport	24	Simon Wills	Dallara F397	Opel	All
DKS	25	Tommy Field	TOM'S 037F	Toyota	8
		Jamie Spence			12-13
Rowan Racing	26	Martin O'Connell	TOM'S 037F	Toyota	12-16
ASM	30	David Saelens	Dallara F397	Opel	14
	31	Sebastien Philippe			14
La Filiere	33	Franck Montagny	Martini MK73	Opel	14
	34	Oriol Servia			14
	35	Marcel Fässler			14
Van Amersfoort Racing	36	Bas Leinders	Dallara F397	Opel	14
Prema Powerteam	37	Donny Crevels	Dallara F397	Opel	14
Opel Team BSR	38	Andreas Scheld	Dallara F397	Opel	14
JB Motorsports	39	Yves Olivier	Dallara F397	Opel	14
Class B
Rowan Racing	51	Martin O'Connell	Dallara F395	Toyota	1-6, 8-11
		Ian James			14-15
Tarry Falcon Racing	52	Jeremy Gumbley	Dallara F396	Mugen Honda	8
		Damon Wellman			12-13, 15-16

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Class B Winner
1	Donington Park	23 March	Guy Smith	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Stewart Racing	No Finishers
2	Silverstone	6 April	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	No Finishers
3	Thruxton	13 April	Nicolas Minassian	Peter Dumbreck	Jonny Kane	Stewart Racing	Martin O'Connell
4	Brands Hatch	27 April	Mark Webber	Mark Webber	Mark Webber	Alan Docking Racing	Martin O'Connell
5	Silverstone	11 May	Mark Webber	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Stewart Racing	Martin O'Connell
6	Croft	18 May	Jonny Kane	Peter Dumbreck	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Martin O'Connell
7	Oulton Park	22 June	Jonny Kane	Peter Dumbreck	Peter Dumbreck	Stewart Racing	No Entrants
8	Silverstone	12 July	Nicolas Minassian	Enrique Bernoldi	Mario Haberfeld	Martin Donnelly Racing	Martin O'Connell
9	Pembrey	17 August	Mark Webber	Brian Smith	Brian Smith	Fortec Motorsport	No Finishers
10			Ricardo Mauricio	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Martin O'Connell
11	Donington Park	24 August	Nicolas Minassian	Martin O'Connell	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Martin O'Connell
12	Snetterton	14 September	Brian Smith	Enrique Bernoldi	Mario Haberfeld	Martin Donnelly Racing	Damon Wellman
13			Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Damon Wellman
14*	Spa-Francorchamps	28 September	Franck Montagny	Nicolas Minassian	Enrique Bernoldi	Promatecme	No Finishers
15	Silverstone	5 October	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Ian James
16	Thruxton	12 October	Jonny Kane	Guy Smith	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Damon Wellman

• Round 14 was contested by an assortment of entrants from other European F3 championships; they were eligible to score points.

Championship

Championship Class

Pos Driver DON SIL THR BRH SIL CRO OUL SIL PEM DON SNE SPA SIL THR Pts Class A 1 Jonny Kane 1 3 1 3 1 2 4 Ret 2 6 2 3 2 NS 5 2 199 2 Nicolas Minassian 4 1 DSQ EX EX 1 Ret 3 Ret 1 1 4 1 6 1 1 183 3 Peter Dumbreck 5 2 3 2 4 3 1 13 3 Ret 5 6 5 NS 7 4 149 4 Mark Webber 6 6 Ret 1 8 4 8 2 4 3 4 Ret 6 4 3 7 131 5 Enrique Bernoldi 3 INJ INJ 14 6 5 Ret 10 8 2 8 2 3 1 2 3 127 6 Mario Haberfeld 9 Ret 7 5 3 11 5 1 Ret 4 Ret 1 7 7 21 5 108 7 Brian Smith Ret 7 4 7 17 8 7 5 1 10 7 7 10 NS 13 Ret 72 8 Ben Collins 12 5 8 6 13 7 2 8 11 8 Ret NS NS 8 4 8 64 9 Guy Smith 2 10 10 8 14 12 6 6 15 9 6 Ret 4 24 8 14 60 10 Kevin McGarrity 7 NS Ret Ret 11 9 3 4 6 Ret 36 11 Ricardo Mauricio 14 11 6 Ret 15 Ret 7 5 Ret Ret 8 Ret 9 10 Ret 26 12 Darren Manning 10 4 NS 9 5 14 Ret 12 Ret 14 Ret 14 11 NS 9 12 26 13 Simon Wills 8 Ret 9 11 9 10 Ret 16 Ret 7 11 9 12 12 Ret 11 22 14 Jamie Spence 7 Ret Ret 9 5 9 Ret 18 15 Warren Hughes 14 16 9 11 8 Ret 6 6 18 16 Mark Shaw 11 9 5 13 Ret 16 9 17 9 13 13 Ret 13 22 12 Ret 16 17 David Saelens 2 15 18 Franck Montagny 3 12 19 Oriol Servia 5 8 20 Paula Cook 13 NS 12 Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret 7 11 16 Ret Ret 20 18 10 7 21 Giovanni Anapoli Ret 8 13 Ret 3 22 Martin O'Connell Ret 14 11 15 9 2 23 Darren Turner Ret 14 11 Ret 16 Ret 14 Ret 12 15 10 18 2 24 Henry Stanton Ret 12 Ret Ret Ret NS NS 11 Ret 10 23 2 25 Michael Bentwood 15 14 10 12 15 11 19 13 17 17 12 16 21 16 13 1 26 Andy Priaulx 16 10 Ret 17 1 27 Haruki Kurosawa 16 13 Ret 12 Ret 13 12 18 10 Ret 14 Ret Ret 19 17 15 1 28 Bas Leinders 10 1 29 Alex Yoong 16 11 30 Yudai Igarashi 17 15 Ret 15 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 15 12 13 15 Ret 14 16 31 Sebastien Philippe 13 32 Donny Crevels 14 33 Andreas Scheld 15 34 Yves Olivier 17 35 Marcel Fässler 18 36 Tommy Field 20 Class B 1 Martin O'Connell Ret Ret 2 4 2 6 15 Ret 5 3 148 2 Damon Wellman 15 17 20 18 78 3 Ian James Ret 19 21 4 Jeremy Gumbley 21 15 Pos Driver DON SIL THR BRH SIL CRO OUL SIL PEM DON SNE SPA SIL THR Pts References AUTOCOURSE 1997-98 British Motorsport Year 1997-98 External links The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship