CDR F3 DRIVER AND RICH ENERGY AMBASSADOR, MAX MARZORATI, TOOK A DESERVED SECOND PLACE FINISH AT DONINGTON PARK OVER THE WEEKEND AND WITH IT RECORDING HIS MAIDEN PODIUM APPEARANCE IN THE CLASS
While fellow Ambassadors Michael Crees and James Hillier were having fun at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Chris Dittmann Racing’s Max Marzorati took a superb second place finish at the third round of the British F3 Championship at Donington Park over the weekend. The RICH Energy Ambassador was clearly delighted with his and the team’s performance after coming so close to victory in the previous outing at Silverstone when an impact from another car caused a puncture and a DNF.
Qualifying was tight across the class with Marzorati claiming 15th place on the grid, just 1.2s off the fastest time. The session forms the grid for the first two races before the grid is reversed as an incentive to those who didn’t qualify as high as they expected and provides the fans and drivers with the cut and thrust racing that they love so much.
Carlin Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan lead from start to finish in Saturday’s opening race as CDR’s Marzorati battled to make headway in the standings in the ultra-competitive field. The Harrow-on-the-Hill driver took the flag in 12th position ahead of the two races on Sunday. Race 2 was a difficult affair for Marzorati as O’Sullivan took the double. After showing promise in race one Marzorati couldn’t replicate the progress made on Saturday, finishing 15th.
The reverse grid was a blessing for Marzorati as he lined up on the front row of the grid for the final race of the weekend. A flying start saw the RICH man take the lead and build a gap on the chasing -pack before the safety car was deployed due to an incident on track. Once the Safety Car was in it was Marzorati again who pressed on to make as big a gap as possible, however, Grundtvig had other ideas as the pair went wheel to wheel through Redgate and down the breath-taking Craner Curves, the Dane just getting the better of the young Brit as they chased their way to the flag.
Marzorati was delighted with his maiden F3 podium and said after the race, “It feels amazing. It feels really good but I’m slightly disappointed that we didn’t get the win, but I’m so, so happy that I still managed to bring home something with P2. I have to thank my sponsors Rich Energy and Adrian Flux and a big shout out to Ben, the automotive charity and all the hard work they do.
“We were so close, we led for quite a long time. I had the dream start and the dream safety car restart, but unfortunately, I was struggling in that last sector and Grundtvig managed to pounce when I didn’t think he was close enough. Everyone keeps telling me not to look in my mirrors and the one time I didn’t, someone went for it! But I made sure I didn’t make that mistake again, I kept Alvarez behind me who is obviously so quick. He finished second in British F4 and has so much experience with slicks and wings. Even Ayrton Simmons had a go and he’s had something like six years with slicks and wings so I think I did well to hang onto that. It’s a shame we didn’t get the P1, but we’ve kept up the team’s record of a podium at every event. We’ll take this and go on to Spa.”