Arden Motorsport collected another brace of podium finishes in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship at Donington Park, Leicestershire last weekend (10-11 July).

The Banbury team made the short trip to the 2.4-mile East Midlands circuit buoyed after a first podium in the UK’s premier tier of single seater racing last time out at Silverstone courtesy of Alex Connor.

Connor’s regular team-mate, Frederick Lubin, was forced to miss the event on medical advice, the Brit instead joined by former Red Arrow Roman Bilinski, the Polish racer making his F3 debut as he evaluates his options for the future.

Both cars ran well during pre-event testing, before qualifying third and sixth respectively in a highly competitive, 17-car field to start the weekend on the front foot.

Connor held that position in the opening race to make it two podiums in successive rounds, with Bilinski making forward progress to finish just behind in fourth.

It would be one better for Connor from the front row on Sunday morning, the 17-year-old finishing second on the road behind championship leader O’Sullivan, with Bilinski again moving through to register another top-five finish.

Both Red Arrows started strongly in the reverse-grid finale, but Connor was forced off-circuit on the run up to Coppice, forcing him to pit and make an early exit from the fray. In his stead, Bilinski made up eight positions to complete a hat-trick of top-five finishes on a superb debut outing.

Their combined efforts elevate Arden into third in the Teams Championship, whilst Connor now sits third in the Driver’s standings.

The iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium hosts the next event on the 2021 schedule across the weekend of 23-25 July.

Gary Ward, Arden British F3 Team Manager said:

“It’s been another positive weekend for the team. Alex only got the call to be at the circuit for testing on Thursday late on Wednesday evening, so he’s done very well to slot back in, re-acclimatise to everything and bring home two podium finishes.

“We’re also impressed with how Roman’s handled his debut weekend in the championship. It’s such a competitive field, so three top-five finishes is a very strong return, and he can be very happy with how he’s performed.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks now to re-group and get ready to go again at Spa.”

Roman Bilinski (#4) said:

“I’m really pleased with how my debut weekend in British F3 went. Given the rest of the field have had pre-season testing, plus two events already, for us to come in and immediately be running up in the top six is really positive.

“It was great to work with Arden Motorsport again, they did a great job preparing the car and helping me acclimatise to the car, and to the series.

“The races themselves were certainly action-packed, I really had to have my wits about me out there, but we made progress in each of the three races and scored some good points.

“It was a fantastic opportunity for me to explore what the next steps in my career might be, but now the focus shifts back to the next round of British F4 at Oulton Park in a fortnight.”

Alex Connor (#27) said:

“It’s been a really good weekend at Donington Park, my best so far to date in British F3. I made some good improvements on my driving throughout the weekend, which helped me to be at the front in the races.

“Our pace in the opening two races was good, but unfortunately race three didn’t go to plan.”