Carey on the double at Silverstone

Ratoath driver Cian Carey stormed to his first victory in the British Formula 3 Cup at Brands Hatch last month and followed up on that form with a double at Silverstone at the weekend.

Carey won the Sexton Trophy for Young Racing Driver of the Year in 2016 after he claimed the Boss Ireland Championship with five outright wins, three second places and four third places.

Carey only made his Formula 3 debut at Donington Park in Leicestershire a little over a year ago and has made a big impact this season.

The series began with a three-race format at Donnington Park during April where Carey was hampered by mechanical issues and did not finish the first two races.

However, he managed that important first victory at Brands Hatch last month and went into last weekend's action determined to sustain a challenge for the title.

“I missed most of practice on Friday with a gearbox problem, but got it sorted for qualifying,” he told the Meath Chronicle.

It was going to be a struggle with very little seat time the day before so Saturday morning qualifying came and we started to produce the goods,” he added.

For the first race the grid was all within one second of each other, but Carey took a dominant win after a close qualifying session on Saturday morning.

As the lights went out (for the start) , Tony Bishop stalled on pole position, allowing Shane Kelly to grab an early lead into Copse, but Carey went around the outside and was able to take the lead.

Kelly slotted in behind ahead of championship leader Stuart Wiltshire and Patrick Jeans.

Carey wasted no time trying to establish a solid lead, but Kelly set a couple of fastest laps as the University of Wolverhampton Racing driver chased down his Chris Dittmann Racing rival. 

However, Carey took a commanding lead to record his second win in the series.

“For the early part of the race I felt like I was comfortable and I was pulling away, but after I passed the back markers I fell asleep for a lap or two and then Shane put me under so much pressure in the last two or three laps! 

“I'm thrilled and want to keep this momentum going now,” he said.

For the second race on Sunday Bishop lined up on pole position again after his flying qualifying session with Carey alongside on the front row.

As the lights went out Carey got the better of Bishop, who had a better start than on Saturday, but was unable to make the most of his pole spot.
Into the first corner at Copse, the leading pack was Carey, Wiltshire, Kelly and Bishop.

As the chequered flag fell Carey took his second win of the weekend, his third in-a-row, with Wiltshire and Kelly completing the podium.

Carey was unlucky in the final race following a late move by Wiltshire down his inside on the 18th lap that ended the Meath man’s hopes of a third win.

However, Carey collected the Sunoco Challenge Trophy for the fastest driver of the weekend.

The Ratoath driver is second on the F3 Cup leaderboard with 10 races to go.