KEY POINTS:
Brendon Hartley swept from 13th on the grid to take second place in the latest British International Formula 3 Championship race at Monza in Italy overnight.
Amidst the mayhem of a wet weekend and confusion caused by atrocious track conditions in qualifying, the 18-year-old Kiwi avoided a first corner pile up and drove his way through the field - and onto the podium again.
Hartley's Red Bull Mercedes Dallara finished 4.2 seconds behind race winner Sergio Perez; the Mexican becoming the first driver to score two wins this season after his own storming drive from 14th place on the grid.
Following his recent win at Croft, this latest result lifts Palmerston North's Hartley to third overall in the International title chase. However, he will start tonight's second Monza race back in 11th place, the result of a brief but dramatic Saturday qualifying session.
Hartley had been second fastest in Friday practice in Milan - pipped by just 0.08sec by his Carlin Motorsport team mate Jaime Alguersuari after the Spaniard stole a tow on the fast Monza straight.
However, the official qualifying later on Friday had to be abandoned when the track became dangerously flooded.
The 28 car field were therefore faced with a single qualifying session on Saturday morning with their fastest time during the frantic 30 minutes determining grid positions for the Saturday race; and each driver's second fastest lap counted in setting the grid for the Sunday race.
To add to the confusion, a number of driver's had their best times disallowed because they had straight-lined the chicanes. For Hartley the issue was the dry set up he was running for a session that quickly became wet.
In Saturday's race both Hartley and Perez were aided by a first corner crash that eliminated three cars and delayed six more. Sebastian Hohenthal hit the back of Atte Mustonen under braking for the first chicane and Max Chilton was also eliminated as several cars took to the grass and escape road in avoidance.
Hartley had charged up to fifth place off the grid but then had to take to the escape road to avoid the first corner carnage. He recovered but was now back in 14th place.
Perez, meanwhile, was up to seventh by the end of the second lap and third by the end of the fifth. He then passed early leaders Sam Abay and Jaime Alguersuari in quick succession and controlled the remainder of the race.
He was briefly put under pressure by Esteban Guerrieri, but it started to rain with five laps to go and Perez edged clear as Guerrieri fell back into the battle behind him. The track was dry for the start of the race the first dry running since Friday's free practice and all 28 cars were running Avon slick tyres.
Guerrieri soon found himself in the middle of the fight between Carlin team-mates Hartley and Alguersuari, who were trading places on the long straights. This time Hartley erred on the side of caution and when it became a three-way scrap, decided to sit back and watch the other two fight it out as the track got more slippery.
The decision proved sensible as Alguersuari and Guerrieri collided at the first Lesmo, and the way was clear for Hartley to complete his recovery from 13th to second.
"I've been too aggressive a few times this season and it hasn't worked out too well," said Hartley. "I was patient, especially when it started raining, because anything can happen at Monza.
"They were fighting closely and I could see what was going to happen. I could never have expected to be on the podium from 13th but it just shows what's possible if you have the speed and drive a sensible race."
Carlin's Oliver Turvey also benefited and was next up in third, from ninth on the grid, ahead of a battle between Walter Grubmuller, John Martin, Sam Abay, and Marcus Ericsson.
Alguersuari survived the clash with Guerrieri to finish eighth, but was given a 25-second penalty that dropped him out of the points.
Going into tonight's sixth race of the season, Perez now has a 13pt lead over Turvey with Hartley a strong third and only 25pts behind the Mexican series leader. Drivers score 20pts for a win with the next three places awarded 15-12 - 10pts
- NZ HERALD STAFF
