Perez makes splash at Croft

Mexico's Sergio Perez dominated British Formula 3 at Croft, taking an historic first win for his country and a second place.

Perez relished the wet conditions at the circuit where he won the National Championship last season, dominating race one and narrowly escaping a massive accident in the second encounter to finish behind winner Brendon Hartley.

Perez, driving a Mugen-Honda, seared past poleman Marcus Ericsson when the lights went green in a blistering show of speed and led Sebastian Hohenthal into the first corner.

They remained in the same positions for the duration of the race, with Esteban Guerrieri rounding off the podium with an impressive third for Ultimate Motorsport.

Perez afterwards described his victory as "a dream come true".

"Seriously, I feel like I'm going to wake up and been told I'm dreaming," he said after taking the chequered flag. "This is fantastic for me, for Mexico and for all the team who have worked so hard to make this possible.

"We just managed to do everything right on a track that is really special for me and has many happy memories."

The Mexican racer was lucky to make it to the end of race two at all after an early exchange with Ericsson.

In a captivating start, Hartley pulled clear of Perez and Ericsson who entered the Jim Clark Esses for the second time side by side and battling for second place.

Perez just nudged in front but they briefly touched and Ericsson span dramatically while Perez did just enough to keep on track marginally behind Hartley.

However, the duo's coming together caused chaos for much of the remaining field, with Sam Abay, Henry Arundel, Guerrieri, Oliver Oakes and Niall Quinn all ending up in the tyre wall.

The melee resulted in a broken leg for one of the race marshals but all the drivers involved were unscathed as the race was red-flagged and restarted.

Hartley again got a great start to lead from lights to flag, smashing F1 ace Takuma Sato's eight-year-old lap record at the circuit in the process.

Perez briefly got into contention to challenge the New Zealander before Hartley pulled away for a one-second win. Oliver Turvey was some way back in third.

And race winner Hartley said: "The drama all happened behind me. It was frustrating to do the start again but it all turned out ok in the end. Santiago drove a great win but I did just enough to hold him off.

"Today I felt I'd really turned things around after some earlier mistakes in the season."

Once more, Andy Meyrick dominated the national class, comfortably beating all his class rivals in both races. He leads Jay Bridger in the National Championship by 32 points while Perez is four points clear of Atte Mustonen in the International Class.

Click here for race reports from Oulton Park