Four from five for podium hunter Hamilton-Smith
It was yet another podium for the consistent Louis Hamilton-Smith in yesterday's F3 Cup race one at Brands Hatch GP, his fourth from his five starts this year.
It was yet another podium for the consistent Louis Hamilton-Smith in yesterday's race one at Brands Hatch GP, his fourth from his five starts this year.
The anomaly, race two at Brands Hatch Indy in June, should have been another podium too as Hamilton-Smith points out: "I was in third here too. I haven't won yet but I've always been on the podium. It's quite competitive at the front, probably even more so than it was last year. So far so good though and it's a bit more intense and there's a bit more competition. All in all it's good."
Conditions should be very different to those of race one, when he claimed second behind Tristan Cliffe. Thanks to setting the second fastest lap time on the final lap of the race he'll start on the front-row, but he admits Cliffe's dry pace was impressive.
"It should be a dry race I think. Yesterday was a bit unlucky with the weather so we'll just see what happens. It's difficult to overtake around here so hopefully I'll get a good start as that's important around here. Being on the front row is a big help so I'll go for what I can.
"Tristan was pretty quick in qualifying and his pace might be a little bit out of reach. I thought I did quite well though in those conditions, I don't normally do that great in the wet so I was pretty happy with the result in general."
The Northamptonshire-based racer has skipped two of the four rounds so far this season, but he should be appearing in more as the season continues. Silverstone follows Brands Hatch, and he'll be expecting to add more podiums to his haul.
"I've had about eight weeks off and I haven't really driven the car since then." Hamilton-Smith admitted. "It's not too bad though, you soon get back into it really. I missed Zolder for the logistics side of it but I should be back out for the next one at Silverstone. It's my home circuit as I live just down the road from it. I won on the National circuit last year but on the Grand Prix track it's a bit different. We've already raced there once this year and I came third in both races. It was a good result; as long as you get on the podium it's good."
Race two starts at 12.35. Follow @F3Cup for live updates and TSL live timing.