2014 British Formula 3 International Series

The 2014 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across England, and one round in Belgium. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Three single seat race cars that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2014 season was the 64th British Formula Three Championship. The series, promoted by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation, began on 4 May at Rockingham Motor Speedway and concluded on 14 September at Donington Park after a 21 race schedule held at seven meetings.^[1]

In a season that saw only four drivers contest the entire championship, it was Chinese driver Martin Cao who won the championship, driving for Fortec Motorsports. Cao started the season with a run of seven successive second-place finishes to a series of drivers, but his consistent finishing kept him towards the top of the championship standings. Cao took his first win at Thruxton, and went on to take four overall wins – plus a further two class wins behind drivers who were ineligible to score championship points – in the final three race meetings, to ultimately win the championship title by two points, ahead of team-mate Matt Rao. Rao won five races over the course of the season, with one fewer podium finish over the season, compared to Cao. Third place went to Camren Kaminsky, who took three podium finishes over his full season campaign.

Another Fortec driver, Sam MacLeod, finished fourth in the championship with four race victories, but he did not contest the whole campaign as his main focus for the season was in the German Formula Three championship with Van Amersfoort Racing. Marvin Kirchhöfer took two wins at Silverstone, when he was learning the circuit for the GP3 Series round at the circuit later in the season. Egor Orudzhev also won at Silverstone, while Roberto Merhi (two wins) and John Bryant-Meisner shared class victories at Spa-Francorchamps. Of the ineligible drivers, Ed Jones won all three races at Spa-Francorchamps, Santino Ferrucci won two out of three at Brands Hatch, while Sean Gelael finished second to Jones twice.

Drivers and teams[]

Team	Chassis	Engine	No.	Driver	Rounds
Carlin	Dallara F308	Volkswagen	1	Zhi Cong Li	All
			2	Alice Powell	1
				Egor Orudzhev	2
				Sam MacLeod	4
Fortec Motorsport	Dallara F312	Mercedes HWA	3	Marvin Kirchhöfer	2
			7	Matt Rao	All
			50	Sam MacLeod	1, 3
			57	Martin Cao	All
Double R Racing	Dallara F312	Mercedes HWA	8	Wing Chung Chang	1–4
			9	Roberto Merhi	4
			16	Dan Wells	6
			18	Max Marshall	5, 7
	Dallara F308		18	Max Marshall	6
	Dallara F312		34	Camren Kaminsky	All
ADM Motorsport	Dallara F311	Volkswagen	10	Kang Ling	4
ADM Motorsport	Dallara F311	Volkswagen	72	Nikita Zlobin	4
Motopark	Dallara F311	Volkswagen	11	Nabil Jeffri	4
Motopark	Dallara F308	Volkswagen	24	Indy Dontje	4
Performance Racing	Dallara F310	Volkswagen	12	John Bryant-Meisner	4
Invitation Entries
Fortec Motorsport	Dallara F312	Mercedes HWA	10	Santino Ferrucci	6
Carlin	Dallara F312	Volkswagen	20	Sean Gelael^[2]	4
Carlin	Dallara F312	Volkswagen	21	Ed Jones	4

Race calendar and results[]

A seven-round calendar was announced on 23 September 2013. In a change of direction from recent seasons, the championship held only a single round outside the UK, in Belgium, supporting the 2014 24 Hours of Spa. The remaining six rounds were all be held in England. The three race format used in previous seasons was retained for all rounds of the championship.^[1]^[3]

After appearing on the 2013 calendar, the international round held at the Nürburgring was dropped from the 2014 calendar. Donington Park, Rockingham and Snetterton all returned to the calendar after a one-year hiatus, while Thruxton returned to the calendar for the first time since 2010.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	R1	Rockingham Motor Speedway	4 May	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Fortec Motorsports
	R2		5 May		Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Fortec Motorsports
	R3		5 May	Sam MacLeod	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports
2	R4	Silverstone Circuit	24 May	Martin Cao	Egor Orudzhev	Egor Orudzhev	Carlin
	R5		24 May		Marvin Kirchhöfer	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Fortec Motorsports
	R6		25 May	Martin Cao	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Fortec Motorsports
3	R7	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	21 June	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Fortec Motorsports
	R8		22 June		Sam MacLeod	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports
	R9		22 June	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Sam MacLeod	Fortec Motorsports
4	R10	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	25 July	Ed Jones	Roberto Merhi^{[N 1]}	Ed Jones	Carlin
	R11		25 July		Roberto Merhi^{[N 1]}	Ed Jones	Carlin
	R12		26 July	Ed Jones	John Bryant-Meisner^{[N 1]}	Ed Jones	Carlin
5	R13	Thruxton Circuit	16 August	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports
	R14		17 August		Matt Rao	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports
	R15		17 August	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports
6	R16	Brands Hatch	30 August	Santino Ferrucci	Matt Rao^{[N 2]}	Santino Ferrucci	Fortec Motorsports
	R17		31 August		Martin Cao	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports
	R18		31 August	Martin Cao	Matt Rao^{[N 2]}	Santino Ferrucci	Fortec Motorsports
7	R19	Donington Park	13 September	Martin Cao	Matt Rao	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports
	R20		14 September		Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports
	R21		14 September	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Fastest lap recorded by Ed Jones, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.
^ ^a ^b Fastest lap recorded by Santino Ferrucci, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.

Championship standings[]

Pos.	Driver	ROC			SIL			SNE			SPA			THR			BRH			DON			Pts
International Class
1	Martin Cao	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	5	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	2	5	285
2	Matt Rao	Ret	4	1	5	Ret	3	3	1	3	8	6	4	2	2	1	4	2	3	3	1	1	283
3	Camren Kaminsky	4	5	4	6	Ret	4	4	Ret	4	12	8	13	Ret	5	3	6	5	5	4	3	3	161
4	Sam MacLeod	1	1	Ret				1	2	1	Ret	5	6										121
5	Zhi Cong Li	Ret	7	5	7	3	Ret	5	Ret	5	9	Ret	9	3	3	5	7	6	Ret	5	4	4	118
6	Wing Chung Chang	3	6	3	4	Ret	5	6	3	2	7	7	11										103
7	Max Marshall													4	4	4	5	Ret	6	2	5	2	93
8	Marvin Kirchhöfer				3	1	1																54
9	John Bryant-Meisner										4	4	3										53
10	Dan Wells																3	4	4				41
11	Roberto Merhi										3	2	DNS										39
12	Egor Orudzhev				1	Ret	Ret																26
13	Indy Dontje										5	DSQ	7										23
14	Nabil Jeffri										6	DSQ	8										18
15	Alice Powell	5	3	Ret																			16
16	Nikita Zlobin										10	Ret	10										6
17	Kang Ling										13	9	12										5
Guest drivers ineligible for points
	Ed Jones										1	1	1										—
	Santino Ferrucci																1	3	1				—
	Sean Gelael										2	3	2										—
Pos.	Driver	ROC			SIL			SNE			SPA			THR			BRH			DON			Pts

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

References[]

^ ^a ^b "SRO unveil new-look British F3 2014 calendar". British Formula 3 Championship. Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
^ Simmons, Marcus (24 July 2014). "Roberto Merhi back to Formula 3 for Spa British round and Macau". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
^ Simmons, Marcus (23 September 2013). "British F3 adds Thruxton to expanded 2014 calendar". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 October 2013.

External links[]

The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship

[FL-4] Fastest lap recorded by Ed Jones, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.

[FL2-5] Fastest lap recorded by Santino Ferrucci, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.

[Calendar_2014-1] "SRO unveil new-look British F3 2014 calendar". British Formula 3 Championship. Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.

[Spa-2] Simmons, Marcus (24 July 2014). "Roberto Merhi back to Formula 3 for Spa British round and Macau". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 July 2014.

[Autosport_Calendar_2014-3] Simmons, Marcus (23 September 2013). "British F3 adds Thruxton to expanded 2014 calendar". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 October 2013.

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List of British Formula Three champions