1996 British Formula Three Championship Explained

The 1996 British Formula Three season was the 46th British Formula Three Championship. The season started on 31 March at Silverstone and ended there on 13 October following sixteen races. After losing out in the final reckoning to Oliver Gavin in 1995, Ralph Firman was able to clinch the crown on his second attempt from Kurt Mollekens and teammate Jonny Kane. New Zealander Simon Wills took the Class B title.

Drivers and Teams

Team	No	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Class A
Paul Stewart Racing	1	Ralph Firman	nowrap	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
Paul Stewart Racing	2	Jonny Kane	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
Fortec Motorsport	3	Guy Smith	Dallara F396	HKS-Mitsubishi	All
Fortec Motorsport	4	nowrap	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dallara F396	HKS-Mitsubishi	All
Promatecme	5	James Matthews	Dallara F396	Renault	All
Promatecme	6	Nicolas Minassian	Dallara F396	Renault	All
Alan Docking Racing	7	Brian Cunningham	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
8	Gonzalo Rodríguez	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-4
	Akbar Ebrahim			8
	Steven Arnold			9
11	Kurt Mollekens	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
12	Risto Virtanen	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-4
TWR Junior Team	9	Jamie Davies	Dallara F396	TWR GM	All
TWR Junior Team	10	Mark Shaw	Dallara F396	TWR GM	All
Intersport	14	Ángel Burgueño	Dallara F396	Opel	All
SpeedSport F3	15	Darren Manning	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
TOM'S GB	16	Christian Horner	TOM'S 036	TOM'S-Toyota	1-6
	16	Naoki Kurose	Dallara F396	TOM'S-Toyota	16
	17	Brian Smith	TOM'S 036	TOM'S-Toyota	All
	18	Takashi Yokoyama	Dallara F396	TOM'S-Toyota	1-3
	18	Takashi Yokoyama	TOM'S 036	TOM'S-Toyota	4-16
	19	Kazuto Yanagawa	Dallara F396	TOM'S-Toyota	All
DC Cook Motorsport	20	Paula Cook	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-11
Graff Racing	23	Boris Derichebourg	Dallara F396	Opel	11
Graff Racing	23	Patrice Gay	Dallara F396	Opel	14-15
Z-Speed	27	Martin Byford	Dallara F396	Opel	1–9, 11-15
Class B
Z-Speed	31	Simon Wills	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	All
Hopkins Motorsport	33	Philip Hopkins	Dallara F393	Fiat	nowrap	1–6, 8–9, 11–13, 16
Hopkins Motorsport	33	James Carney	Dallara F393	Fiat	14-15
Render Racing	34	Martin O'Connell	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	1–3, 7–9, 12-13
Render Racing	34	Masami Nakamura	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	14-16
SpeedSport F3	35	Michael Bentwood	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	All
Team Magic Racing	36	Shingo Tachi	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	All
Team Magic Racing	37	Ben Collins	Dallara F394	Mugen-Honda	7-16
Mark Bailey Racing	47	Tavo Hellmund	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	1-7
Mark Bailey Racing	48	Chris Clark	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	1-4

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Class B Winner
1	Silverstone	31 March	Guy Smith	Ralph Firman	Guy Smith	Fortec Motorsport	nowrap	Martin O'Connell
2	Silverstone	31 March	Guy Smith	Jamie Davies	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	Martin O'Connell
3	Thruxton	14 April	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	Simon Wills
4	nowrap	Donington Park	5 May	Ralph Firman	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	Shingo Tachi
5	Brands Hatch	27 May	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	nowrap	Paul Stewart Racing	Simon Wills
6	Brands Hatch	27 May	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	Philip Hopkins
7	Oulton Park	8 June	Jonny Kane	Juan Pablo Montoya	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	Martin O'Connell
8	Donington Park	23 June	Brian Smith	Juan Pablo Montoya	Kurt Mollekens	nowrap	Alan Docking Racing	Martin O'Connell
9	Silverstone	13 July	Darren Manning	Jonny Kane	Darren Manning	SpeedSport F3	Martin O'Connell
10	Thruxton	28 July	Darren Manning	nowrap	Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	Ben Collins
11	Snetterton	11 August	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Ben Collins
12	Pembrey	1 September	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Ben Collins
13	Pembrey	1 September	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Shingo Tachi
14	Zandvoort	29 September	nowrap	Juan Pablo Montoya	Kurt Mollekens	Kurt Mollekens	Alan Docking Racing	Ben Collins
15	Zandvoort	Brian Smith	Ralph Firman	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Ben Collins
16	Silverstone	13 October	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Simon Wills

Round 11 was shortened due to heavy rain, and a planned second race at Snetterton was also cancelled.

Championship

Class A

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	188
2	Kurt Mollekens	Alan Docking Racing	148
3	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	146
4	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	139
5	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	137
6	Guy Smith	Fortec Motorsport	132
7	Darren Manning	SpeedSport F3	105
8	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	98
9	James Matthews	Promatecme	59
10	Brian Smith	TOM'S	44
11	Brian Cunningham	Alan Docking Racing	34
12	Angel Burgueno	Intersport	31
13	Mark Shaw	TWR Junior Team	12
14	Gonzalo Rodríguez	Alan Docking Racing	9
15	Patrice Gay	Graff Racing	8
16	Takashi Yokoyama	TOM'S	8
17	Martin Byford	Z-Speed	7
18	Risto Virtanen	Alan Docking Racing	4
19	Kazuto Yanagawa	TOM'S	3

Class B

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Simon Wills	Z-Speed	201
2	Shingo Tachi	Team Magic Racing	192
3	Ben Collins	Team Magic Racing	147
4	Martin O'Connell	Rowan Racing	131
5	Michael Bentwood	SpeedSport F3	119
6	Tavo Hellmund	Mark Bailey Racing	56
7	Philip Hopkins	Hopkins Motorsport	52
8	Chris Clark	Mark Bailey Racing	45
9	Masami Nakamura	Render Racing	20
10	James Carney	Hopkins Motorsport	12

References

AUTOCOURSE 1996-97
British Motorsport Year 1996-97

External links

The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship