1996 British Formula Three Championship

1996 British Formula 3 International Series 1995 1997 thumb|right|1996 champion, Ralph Firman 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. This season did not feature any Brazilian drivers, an unusual fact for British Formula 3 since the arrival of Emerson Fittipaldi in 1969. The scoring system was 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 points awarded to the first ten finishers, with 1 (one) extra point added to the driver who set the fastest lap of the race. All results counted towards the driver's final tally. Drivers and Teams Team No Driver Chassis Engine Rounds Class A GBR Paul Stewart Racing 1GBR Ralph FirmanDallara F396Mugen-Honda All 2 GBR Jonny Kane Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda All GBR Fortec Motorsport 3GBR Guy Smith Dallara F396 HKS-Mitsubishi All 4COL Juan Pablo Montoya Dallara F396 HKS-Mitsubishi All FRA Promatecme 5GBR James Matthews Dallara F396 Renault All 6FRA Nicolas Minassian Dallara F396 Renault All GBR Alan Docking Racing 7USA Brian Cunningham Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda All 8URY Gonzalo Rodríguez Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda 1-4IND Akbar Ebrahim 8GBR Steven Arnold 9 11BEL Kurt Mollekens Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda All 12FIN Risto Virtanen Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda 1-4 GBR TWR Junior Team 9GBR Jamie Davies Dallara F396 TWR GM All 10GBR Mark Shaw Dallara F396 TWR GM All GBR Intersport 14ESP Ángel Burgueño Dallara F396 Opel All GBR SpeedSport F3 15GBR Darren Manning Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda All GBR TOM'S GB 16GBR Christian Horner TOM'S 036 TOM'S-Toyota 1-6JPN Naoki Kurose Dallara F396 16 17ARG Brian Smith TOM'S 036 TOM'S-Toyota All 18JPN Takashi Yokoyama Dallara F396TOM'S-Toyota 1-3 TOM'S 036 4-16 19JPN Kazuto Yanagawa Dallara F396 TOM'S-Toyota All GBR DC Cook Motorsport 20GBR Paula Cook Dallara F396 Mugen-Honda 1-11 FRA Graff Racing 23FRA Boris Derichebourg Dallara F396 Opel 11 FRA Patrice Gay 14-15 GBR Z-Speed 27GBR Martin Byford Dallara F396 Opel 1–9, 11-15 Class B GBR Z-Speed 31NZL Simon Wills Dallara F394 Vauxhall All GBR Hopkins Motorsport 33GBR Philip Hopkins Dallara F393 Fiat 1–6, 8–9, 11–13, 16USA James Carney 14-15 GBR Render Racing 34GBR Martin O'Connell Dallara F394 Vauxhall 1–3, 7–9, 12-13JPN Masami Nakamura 14-16 GBR SpeedSport F3 35GBR Michael Bentwood Dallara F394 Vauxhall All GBR Team Magic Racing 36JPN Shingo Tachi Dallara F394 TOM'S-Toyota All 37GBR Ben Collins Dallara F394 Mugen-Honda 7-16 GBR Mark Bailey Racing 47USA Tavo Hellmund Dallara F394 TOM'S-Toyota 1-7 48GBR 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 GBR Silverstone 31 March GBR Guy Smith GBR Ralph Firman GBR Guy Smith GBR Fortec Motorsport GBR Martin O'Connell 2 GBR Guy Smith GBR Jamie Davies GBR Jamie Davies GBR TWR Junior Team GBR Martin O'Connell 3 GBR Thruxton 14 April GBR Ralph Firman GBR Ralph Firman GBR Jamie Davies GBR TWR Junior Team NZL Simon Wills 4 GBR Donington Park 5 May GBR Ralph Firman COL Juan Pablo Montoya COL Juan Pablo Montoya GBR Fortec Motorsport JPN Shingo Tachi 5 GBR Brands Hatch 27 May GBR Ralph Firman GBR Ralph Firman GBR Ralph Firman GBR Paul Stewart Racing NZL Simon Wills 6 GBR Ralph Firman GBR Ralph Firman GBR Ralph Firman GBR Paul Stewart Racing GBR Philip Hopkins 7 GBR Oulton Park 8 June GBR Jonny Kane COL Juan Pablo Montoya GBR Ralph Firman GBR Paul Stewart Racing GBR Martin O'Connell 8 GBR Donington Park 23 June ARG Brian Smith COL Juan Pablo Montoya BEL Kurt Mollekens GBR Alan Docking Racing GBR Martin O'Connell 9 GBR Silverstone 13 July GBR Darren Manning GBR Jonny Kane GBR Darren Manning GBR SpeedSport F3 GBR Martin O'Connell 10 GBR Thruxton 28 July GBR Darren Manning COL Juan Pablo Montoya COL Juan Pablo Montoya GBR Fortec Motorsport GBR Ben Collins 111 1 GBR Snetterton 11 August GBR Jonny Kane GBR Jonny Kane GBR Jonny Kane GBR Paul Stewart Racing GBR Ben Collins 12 GBR Pembrey 1 September GBR Jonny Kane GBR Jonny Kane FRA Nicolas Minassian FRA Promatecme GBR Ben Collins 13 GBR Jonny Kane GBR Jonny Kane GBR Jonny Kane GBR Paul Stewart Racing JPN Shingo Tachi 14 NED Zandvoort29 September COL Juan Pablo Montoya BEL Kurt Mollekens BEL Kurt Mollekens GBR Alan Docking Racing GBR Ben Collins 15 ARG Brian Smith GBR Ralph Firman GBR Jonny Kane GBR Paul Stewart Racing GBR Ben Collins 16 GBR Silverstone 13 October FRA Nicolas Minassian FRA Nicolas Minassian FRA Nicolas Minassian FRA Promatecme NZL Simon Wills 1 1 Round 11 was shortened due to heavy rain, and a planned second race at Snetterton was also cancelled. Drivers Championship Pos Driver SILGBR SILGBR THRGBR DONGBR BRHGBR BRHGBR OULGBR DONGBR SILGBR THRGBR SNEGBR PEMGBR PEMGBR ZANNED ZANNED SILGBR Pts Class A 1 GBR Ralph Firman 4 2 3 Ret 1 1 1 2 2 2 6 13 5 5 4 4 188 2 BEL Kurt Mollekens 5 5 11 3 6 7 2 1 4 5 9 3 8 1 2 7 148 3 GBR Jonny Kane Ret 6 5 Ret 4 Ret 10 Ret 3 Ret 1 2 1 2 1 2 146 4 FRA Nicolas Minassian 9 8 7 5 2 3 3 3 9 Ret 17 1 7 3 3 1 139 5 COL Juan Pablo Montoya 2 12 4 1 12 2 9 13 7 1 3 4 6 4 Ret 5 137 6 GBR Guy Smith 1 3 6 4 3 6 5 4 6 9 2 12 12 8 5 3 132 7 GBR Darren Manning 7 10 17 2 5 8 6 6 1 4 5 7 4 12 7 6 105 8 GBR Jamie Davies 3 1 1 Ret 10 10 4 20 11 6 7 5 2 Ret Ret DNS 98 9 GBR James Matthews 6 4 2 9 20 11 8 19 10 7 4 8 9 Ret 8 12 59 10 ARG Brian Smith Ret DNS 25 Ret 8 5 7 12 8 DNS 8 6 3 7 Ret DSQ 44 11 USA Brian Cunningham Ret 13 9 Ret 7 Ret WD 5 5 8 11 9 14 6 Ret 10 34 12 ESP Ángel Burgueño Ret DNS 10 Ret 13 4 11 7 Ret 3 Ret 15 16 Ret 11 8 31 13 GBR Mark Shaw 14 7 8 13 Ret Ret 18 9 13 Ret 19† Ret 18 10 Ret DSQ 12 14 URU Gonzalo Rodríguez 8 Ret 12 6 9 15 FRA Patrice Gay 9 6 8 16 JPN Takashi Yokoyama 13 9 20 8 11 Ret 19 17 Ret 14† 10 18 21 11 Ret 9 8 17 GBR Martin Byford 11 11 Ret Ret 9 9 14 11 Ret 12 Ret DNS 15† 12 7 18 FIN Risto Virtanen 21 21 14 7 4 19 JPN Kazuto Yanagawa 16 18 19 Ret 17 Ret Ret 14 16 13 13 Ret 13 Ret 9 15 3 20 GBR Christian Horner Ret 24 16 Ret 16 13 0 21 GBR Paula Cook 17 16 21 Ret 18 14 DNS DNS 20 DNS DNS 0 22 FRA Boris Derichebourg 14 0 23 GBR Steven Arnold 15 0 24 IND Akbar Ebrahim 18 0 JPN Naoki Kurose Ret Class B 1 NZL Simon Wills 19 17 13 14 14 15 15 15 21 11 16 16 17 Ret 13 11 201 2 JPN Shingo Tachi 15 19 23 10 15 17 13 21 14 Ret DNS 11 10 14 Ret 13 192 3 GBR Ben Collins Ret 10 17 10 15 10 11 13 10 Ret 147 4 GBR Martin O'Connell 10 14 18 12 8 12 17 19 131 5 GBR Michael Bentwood 20 22 DNS 11 Ret 16 16 16 18 12 18† 14 15 Ret Ret 14 119 6 USA Tavo Hellmund 18 20 24 12 19 Ret 17 56 7 GBR Philip Hopkins 22† 23 22 Ret Ret 12 Ret 19 20† 19† 20 DSQ 52 8 GBR Chris Clark 12 15 15 Ret 45 9 JPN Masami Nakamura 17 Ret 16 20 10 USA James Carney 16 Ret 12 Pos Driver SILGBR SILGBR THRGBR DONGBR BRHGBR BRHGBR OULGBR DONGBR SILGBR THRGBR SNEGBR PEMGBR PEMGBR ZANNED ZANNED SILGBR Pts References AUTOCOURSE 1996-97British Motorsport Year 1996-97 External links The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship Formula Three Category:British Formula Three Championship seasons British Formula 3