Motorsport: Evans loses GP3 lead

Mitch Evans. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand teenaged driver Mitch Evans has lost his lead in the European GP3 motor racing championship series after failing to score any points at Silverstone in England.

Evans held a two-point championship lead after finishing 10th in the first race yesterday morning but he failed to finish the second race and was replaced by Briton Alexander Sims as series leader.

The 17-year-old started the second 'reverse top eight' race from 10th on the grid but was forced to retire on the first lap to leave Silverstone without adding to his 26 championship points.

Sims, who was second in the first race and followed that up with third in the day's second race, now leads Evans by three points in the championship.

Swiss driver Nico Muller won the first race and Scotland's Lewis Williamson won the second race to become the seventh and eight different winners of races this year.

The opening race was something of a drama for Evans who had qualified fourth fastest for the 17-lap event.

It rained heavily seconds before the beginning of the final warm-up lap at the Northamptonshire circuit and 19 of the 30 drivers diverted to the pits at the end of the formation lap to switch from slicks to wet weather tyres instead of taking their places on the starting grid .

The race start was therefore chaotic with just 11 cars taking up their places on the grid.

The rest, including Evans, frantically changed to wet tyres in the pits before chasing the depleted pack from their pit road race start.

Evans lost more time when queueing briefly behind his teammate for the late tyre change.

His frustration began even earlier than the rain drenched formation lap.

The set of new wet tyres fitted for Evans' initial 'out lap' - before the formation lap-- were found to be unusable. A balance weight on one of the rear wheels had been applied 180 degrees out, causing severe vibration.

That meant when Evans rushed into the pits to change from slicks back on to wets, his only option was to revert to the used set of wet tyres he had run throughout the two practice sessions yesterday.

- NZPA