2008 Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula F3 Championship National Class

Croft Crash Test Dummies - Teixeira duffs up Brendan Hartley too!

Hywel Lloyd endured the ups and downs of motor racing at Croft circuit this weekend when a startline incident put him out the first race, but a piece of good fortune gave him his second podium finish of the year in a slightly unexpected manner as fellow Welshman Andy Meyrick scooped up both race wins.

Hywel was 21^st in practice, 3^rd in class behind Andy Meyrick and Steven Guerrero. "Well the first race was wet and I got a good start, however one of the guys in front of me, Teixeira, didn’t, so I ducked around him, just as Phillip Major was trying to get away too. Phillip moved towards me and we touched wheels just as Teixeira moved towards me too from the other direction! I was stuck between them as a sandwich! There was nothing I could do at that stage. My front wheel was ripped off and the undertray was damaged, so that was a DNF, which was a shame. Luckily we had enough spares and some of the damage looked worse than it was, which was just as well as we only had a few hours between races." The second race was just as fraught, but fortunately this time Hywel was the beneficiary. On the first lap in between Sunny In and Sunny Out they was a big shunt up ahead and there were bits of cars everywhere. I was able to slow down and pick my way through, they brought out the safety car for a few laps but then they red flagged the race to clear up the debris" The crash put 7 cars out and an unfortunate marshal broke his leg in the confusion, which made for a major delay. The organisers re-started the race on the basis that the times from the two starts would be added together. Hywel continued "It was a bit confusing, we set off and I finished the race thinking I was 4^th, so we went back to the garage. However we could see the people on the podium waving at us, so we thought that was strange and then the podium guy came down and told us we were 3^rd so I had to rush up and pick up the trophy. Its was a bit of shock, but it was a good shock! It was nice to join Andy Meyrick and make it two Welshmen on the podium again. Andy is driving real well & we need to close the gap to him, or try to get him to slow down !"

The next races in the 2008 British F3 Championship is at the historic Monza circuit in Italy