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Karthikeyan dominates F3 race

India's racing star Narian Karthikeyan furthered his ambition of becoming the first Indian driver to reach Formula One, by scoring his second victory of the season in the eighth round of the Autosport British Formula Three Championship at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Narian, 23, a Madras-born driver, utterly dominated the latest round of the single-seater championship, which, as well as being Britain's most prestigious, is recognised around the world for producing the Formula One stars of tomorrow.

From second place on the starting grid, Karthikeyan, on Dallara Mugan-Honda, run by Carlin Motorsport of Brooklands, Surrey, made a better start than his rivals and pulled out a massive lead by the end of the opening lap, then did the same again after the whole field closed-up, from laps four to six, behind the Safty Car.

Setting the fastest lap of the race four times, and establishing a new Formula 3 track record at an average lap speed of 118.2mph, the Indian eventually crossed the line 5.8 seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer.

Karthikeyan's win moves him up to third place in the championship standings, demoting Jenson Button, who qualified third, but lost two positions on the opening lap, and two more after the Safty Car pulled off, to come home a frustrated sixth.

"Brands has been very good to me. I made a very good start and got around Luciano going into the paddock (bend, the first corner), and just drove away," said Karthikeyan.

1999 AUTOSPORT British Formula 3 championship
Provisional Results-Round 8

1 - Ch - Narian Karthikeyan - India - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.00.707
2 - Ch - Luciano Burti - Brazil - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.06.555
3 - Ch - Andrew Kirkcaldy - Great Britain - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.07.488
4 - Ch - Marc Hynes - Great Britain - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.07.896
5 - Ch - Matthew Davies - Great Britain - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.08.339
6 - Ch - Jenson Button - Great Britain - Dallara F339 Renault - 29.08.746
7 - Ch - Kristian Kolby - Denmark - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.11.106
8 - Ch - Aluizio Coelho - Brazil - Dallara F399 Renault - 29.19.311
9 - Ch - Tor Sriachavanon - Thailand - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.22.545
10 - Ch - Michael Bentwood - Great Britain - Dallara F399 Mugen Honda - 29.22.908

Championship standings after 8 (of 16) rounds:

1 Luciano Burti (Brazil - Cambridge) - Stewart Racing - 109 points
2 Marc Hynes (Great Britain - Tetley, Glocs) - Manor Motorsport - 104 points
3 Narain Karthikeyan (India - Milton Keynes) - Carlin Motorsport - 80 points
4 Jenson Button (Great Britain - Bicestor, Oxon) - Promatecme RenaultUK - 67 points
5 Kristian Kolby (Denmark - Knutsford, Cheshire) - Fortec Motorsport - 59 points
6 Matt Davies (Great Britain - Billericay, Essex) - Fortec Motorsport - 48 points
7 Andrew Kirkaldy (Great Britain - St. Andrews) - Stewart Racing - 46 points
8 Alex Yoong (Malaysia - Richmond, Surrey) - Alan Docking Racing - 37 points
9 Michael Bentwood (Great Britain - Altrincham) - SpeedSport F3 Racing - 28 points
10 Alurzio Coelho (Brazil - Cambridge) - Promatecme RenaultUK - 24 points