Carlin Motorsport off to flyer

Carlin Motorsport dominated the opening weekend of the British F3 international Championship at Oulton Park as team-mates Oliver Turvey and Jaime Alguersuari won a race apiece.

Britain's Turvey sealed victory in race one on Monday - his first ever championship outing - despite the wet conditions caused by heavy snowfall just before the 30-minute race got going.

And Alguersuari, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Sunday, made amends for crashing out of race one to win the second encounter in controversial fashion after team-mate Brendon Hartley was demoted to fourth for overtaking during a safety-car period.

Turvey virtually led race one from lights to flag after passing polesitter Alguersuari, who was slow away off the line in his Dallara. He came under pressure from Alguersuari and 16-year-old Max Chilton for the early part of the race but increasingly pulled away from the field slowing down to win by just over two seconds.

And afterwards Turvey said: "It's fantastic. This is my first British F3 race and I've won it. It's also the first wet start I've had so I was a bit nervous but I got off well and really from there felt confident I would win it. I felt I controlled the race."

Chilton, who last season became the youngest driver in F3 history when he made his debut on the grid the day after his 16th birthday, took his first ever podium in the series with a deserved runner-up spot. But the Hitech Racing driver had his work cut out as he fought it out with Alguersuari and Hartley.

The team-mates both passed Chilton but, on lap 14, their races ended in dramatic fashion as they exited Old Hall. Hartley tried to duck down the inside of Alguersuari but the pair clashed and were forced into retirement.

As a result, Chilton took a relatively straightforward second place with Finland's Atte Mustonen rounding off the podium a further two seconds back.

And Chilton said: "I thought I was going to get fourth but you have to keep your head on in the wet and thankfully I profited from those guys' mistakes. It may be surprising to some people that I was second but I believe I'm quick and will prove that this season."

Race two was dominated by Alguersuari from the outset. He made amends for his dire start in the first race to fly off the line and into a big lead.

However, the Spaniard's big lead was slashed when the safety car came out during which Hartley passed him for the lead, which he maintained until the chequered flag.

Race stewards, however, immediately demoted Hartley for his illegal overtaking manoeuvre to give Alguersuari a deserved victory.

Alguersuari said: "It's the right result I think - I think I deserved to win. I wanted a good start after the first race and, after that, I was only thinking about winning. So it's a great day for me."

Hartley's demotion to fourth handed second place to Sweden's Marcus Ericsson, whose Swedish Fortec Motorsport team-mate Sebastian Hohenthal was third.

Andy Meyrick dominated the national class in both races. He was an impressive 12th overall for Carlin Motorsport, and three places and nearly ten seconds clear of his nearest rival, fellow Briton Jay Bridger, in race one and took the spoils again in race two ahead of Salman Al Khalifa and Niall Quinn.