KEY POINTS:
New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley today took a lights-to-flag victory in the fourth round British Formula Three motor racing series at the Croft circuit in Yorkshire, England.
Hartley finished 0.8 seconds ahead of series leader Mexican Sergio Perez.
The result saw Hartley improve from ninth to sixth in the series standings.
He made a clean start to lead the 29-car field into the first corner and avoided a collision further back which saw the race red flagged before the end of the second lap.
All of the drivers were all right but one marshal suffered a broken leg and was treated at the trackside before being taken to a medical centre.
The cars formed up on the grid to restart in the positions at the end of lap one to race over 18 laps, the times of which would be an aggregate of the two race starts.
Hartley again excelled on the restart, and had control of the race.
He put in the fastest laps on lap threes and four, breaking Takuma Sato's eight-year-old Formula Three record, and more importantly opening up a slight gap on Perez as they two separated themselves from the field.
Perez attempted to pressure Hartley but never got close enough to challenge for the lead.
Leading results: BRENDON HARTLEY (NZ) Carlin Motorsport 23min 39.172 sec 19 laps 1, Sergio Perez (Mexico) T-Sport +0.818s 2, Oliver Turvey (Britain) Carlin Motorsport +11.705s 3, Atte Mustonen (Finland) Raikkonen Robertson Racing +13.746s 4, Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Carlin Motorsport +14.438s 5.
- NZPA
