Jouanny takes victory at Donington.

Jouanny wins for Promatecme F3
Bruce Jouanny scored a dominant victory for Promatecme F3 in the final round of the Avon Tyres British F3 Championship at Donington Park over the weekend (21/22 September). To complete a great weekend for the team, Matthew Gilmore battled through to take sixth place from 12th on the grid.

In qualifying for the first race of the weekend, Bruce stormed to the head of the time sheets and held pole position until Robbie Kerr lapped fractionally faster on the very final lap of the session. "It's going to be tough," admitted Bruce of his chances of regaining third place in the championship from Heikki Kovalainen. "But I will be pushing hard," he pledged.

Having had a good pre-race test, Matthew Gilmore was disappointed in first qualifying to post only 13th fastest time. Even so, his best lap was less than a second away from Bruce's front-row time.

In the second session, Bruce was unstoppable and took pole position by nearly half a second. "The car is perfect," said Bruce. "I think I should have had pole for the first race, but I couldn't quite get a good lap yesterday. We haven't changed the car. We've now had three poles in four races and I'm getting more and more confident. Since Zandvoort we've found a lot of pure speed and we definitely have the pace to win."

Matthew took 10th place on the grid as he switched from his F3 car to a 380bhp Porsche that he was also racing in the Michelin Porsche Cup over the weekend. The drive with Porsche Cars Great Britain was one of the rewards for his success in the McLaren/Autosport/BRDC Young Driver of the Year awards at the end of the 2001 season.

The opening race was held on Saturday afternoon, and the outcome was effectively sealed at the first corner. Kovalainen, using the torque of the Renault engine, was able to forge ahead, and Bruce also worked ahead of Kerr to grab second place. "It was all on the first corner," Bruce reported. "I went on the inside of Kerr, but Kovalainen had a massive start. That really was the race finished," said Bruce who was little more than a second behind Kovalainen at the flag.

Matthew, meanwhile, went into the race suffering the after effects of a heavy shunt in the earlier Porsche race. He was knocked into the pit wall only 100m after the start and put out of the race with a badly damaged car. Although an innocent party in the accident, it left him nursing a sore neck and bruising. Despite the discomfort, he was soon racing hard in the opening F3 race and battled up to eighth place, challenging Fabio Carbone for seventh.

"I was pushing Carbone because he had a bent front wing and I was quicker," reported Matthew. "But down to the Old Hairpin I got understeer behind him and ran wide," he explained. The car ran out over the kerbs and onto the grass before spinning, which left him down in 14th place at the flag.

The second race, run in front of 26,000 fans on Sunday afternoon, provided the perfect finish for Bruce's season. He got a superb start to fend off Kovalainen on the sprint to the first corner and then drove a faultless race to soak up the pressure from the Finn and win by just over a second. Even a safety car period early in the race failed to unsettle Bruce.

"It's a great way to finish the season. Pole, win and fastest lap," he said after spraying the champagne. "Thirteen podium finishes in 26 races, that's not a bad year for me!" Unfortunately, with Kovalainen taking second in the race, Bruce remained fourth in the final championship standings.

It was also a good race for Matthew, who battled hard to secure sixth place after a fierce contest with Richard Antinucci. It took a while for Matthew to work ahead of the American and by the time he was through to sixth, fifth-placed Carbone was just out of reach. "The first time I attacked he pushed me onto the grass down the Craner Curves," said Matthew. However, on the seventh lap Gilmore got a faster run out of the Esses and swept ahead of Antinucci on the charge to the Melbourne Hairpin to secure sixth.