Brits Alexander Sims and Sam Bird had a great outing during their home event at Brands Hatch in Formula Three Euroseries as the Mucke Motorsport team-mates both made it to the podium in race two.
In race one Mika Maki took his first win of the season after starting from the front row of the grid – despite a delay to the event.
A big crash between Jules Bianchi and Tiago Geronimi at the circuit’s Paddock Hill Bend took so long to clear up that the completion of the race was delayed until after qualifying for the weekend’s headline event, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM).
Maki’s restart from behind the safety car secured him the victory as the Finn took the lead from his countryman Valtteri Bottas at the start, holding him off through a race-long contest to take the win.
Christian Vietoris took third from his team-mate Sims, the current BRDC Young Driver of the Year, at the start of the race and Sims was unable to mount an effective challenge to gain the place back.
Christopher Zanella was fifth, his best result yet in the series, with Bird in sixth thanks to a late pass on Mexican Esteban Gutierrez. Carlin’s Brendon Hartley was eighth. Kolles driver Nick Tandy retired on lap 22.
In race two Hartley took Carlin’s first victory in the series, having led from lights to flag, and secured the win despite two safety car periods.
Sims took a podium with a determined drive, passing countryman Bird for the place after a mistake from his Mucke team-mate at Druids. Hartley was forced to defend against both in the closing stages of the race but was easily able to hold them back.
In this race Tandy recorded his best finish of the season with a 12th place.
Bird is currently fifth in the season standings with 35 points while Sims is sixth on 34. Tandy, who switched across from British F3 International and so has not taken part in every race, has yet to score.