Quick Nic breaks F3 duck.

Nicolas Kiesa took his first Formula Three race victory since graduating from Formula Ford last season, and made up for the disappointment of throwing away his last pole position in the category.

The Dane had stalled at Croft on only his second appearance in F3 back in the spring, and appeared to have made a similar mistake this time around at Donington Park, when both Andrew Kirkaldy and Takuma Sato shot ahead of him in the second race of the weekend's double-header.

Sato's start was adjudged to be too good, however, and the fifth place starter was handed a stop-go penalty, which lightened Kiesa's load slightly. As Sato pitted, the RC Benetton driver wasted no time in reeling in Kirkaldy and, once the Scot was in his sights, made no mistake with a great pass around the outside at Redgate.

His confidence inspired by the recovery, Kiesa was able to pull away over the remaining laps, and eventually won by almost four seconds. Kirkaldy, meanwhile, clung tenaciously to second place, determined to get something out of a weekend he had all but dominated, with fastest times in testing and two front row grid slots. His disappointment in being bundled off the road in race one on Saturday was evident, and there was no way anyone was going to take a podium finish from him this time around.

Series leader Antonio Pizzonia recovered from an unusual start off the front row to finish third, thereby increasing his points advantage over Stewart's Tomas Scheckter. The South African fared little better in race two than he had yesterday - when he lost his front wing on the warm-up lap - but could still do no better than sixth position. Between the title chasers came Italian Gianmaria Bruni - completing a solid weekend for the Fortec driver - and the second RC Benetton car of Milos Pavlovich.

Gary Paffett won the Scholarship Class to guarantee himself the ?125,000 title prize set aside for a British winner of the category. The Fred Goddard Racing/Team Young Guns remains unbeaten in the class this year, and is now looking to graduate to the Championship category as a taster for next season.

Race Result - F3 - Donington Park: race two.

1. Nicolas Kiesa RC Benetton Dallara-Speiss 30mins 14.449secs
2. Andrew Kirkaldy Team Avanti Dallara-Speiss +4.8secs
3. Antonio Pizzonia Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +5.9secs
4. Gianmaria Bruni Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +10.8secs
5. Milos Pavlovic RC Benetton Dallara-Speiss +13.1secs
6. Tomas Scheckter Stewart Racing Dallara-Mugen +14.3secs
7. Michael Bentwood Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +16.5secs
8. Andy Priaulx Promatecme Dallara-Renault +18.6secs
9. Takuma Sato Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +23.7secs
10. Narain Karthikeyan Stewart Racing Dallara-Mugen +25.3secs
11. Gary Paffett Fred Goddard Racing Dallara-Renault +28.4secs
12. Martin O'Connell Rowan Racing Dallara-Mugen +30.1secs
13. Warren Carway Rowan Racing Dallara-Mugen +45.3secs
14. Tor Sriachavanon Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen +55.8secs
15. Christian Columbo Rowan Racing Dallara-Mugen +56.8secs
16. Craig Fleming ME Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +58.0secs
17. Ryan Walker Diamond Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +59.3secs
18. Philip Hopkins Hopkins Motorsport Dallara-Speiss +1min 09.5secs
19. Matt Davies Promatecme Dallara-Renault +1min 11.7secs
20. Mark Mayall Diamond Motorsport Dallara-Mugen +1min 30.7secs

Rtd Ben Collins Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen
Rtd Atsushi Katsumata Team Meritus Dallara-Toyota
Rtd Juan Manuel Lopez Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen