Ryan Lewis made it a hat-trick of victories with his third successive race win in the third round of the Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone today. The 19 year-old from Royston was made to work hard though after dropping two places at the start, but fought his way through to take a well deserved victory after 18 laps of the International circuit.

The youngster, in his first season of Formula 3, dropped down to third place at the start after poor visibility from the spray and having to take avoiding action as his main series rivals applied the pressure.

“I lost out again to Stephen (Jelley) at the first corner, I went to the inside and couldn't see anything and as per usual he went to the outside - I left myself open to that again. He squeezed in front and then sat on the back of some championship cars who were firing each other off left, right and centre, so it was getting a bit scrappy. Then he made a mistake with a gear change or something, I had to go on the concrete at Copse, the worst place you can make a mistake, and I lost a lot of time there.”

Race 1 results - 18 laps

1. RYAN LEWIS BES Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda 27:38.550
2. Stephen Jelley Dallara F301 Opel Spiess 27:39.358
3. Barton Mawer Dallara F301 Opel Spiess 27:45.407
4. Adam Langley-Khan Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda 27:58.282
5. Vasilije Calasan Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda 28:11.908

Avon Tyres British Scholarship Points after 3 rounds

1. RYAN LEWIS 62
2. Stephen Jelley 39
3. Barton Mawer 27
4. Adam Langley-Khan 22
5. Ajit Kumar 18
6. Vasilije Casalan 18

Ref: ml00074
18 April 2004

Editor's note: Copyright free images of Ryan Lewis are available from the website below. All requests for interview should be directed to Cathy Metcalfe at the details below

For media information: Cathy Metcalfe, MPR Associates, Tel: 01327 352199, Fax: 01327 352908 Mob: 07802 332398 E-mail: cathymetcalfe@mpr-associates.co.uk www.ryanlewisracing.co.uk