Thomas Randle forced to play second fiddle at Oulton Park

Norfolk resident Thomas Randle twice stood on the BRDC British Formula Three Championship podium in the latest round to consolidate second place in the series.

'We've moved up to second in the championship, although we have lost a little bit of ground on Ricky (Collard),' Randle said after the third and final race at Oulton Park.

'We need to find a little bit more speed but I can't thank the guys at Douglas Motorsport enough and all my supporters back home plus my mum and dad. Roll on Silverstone.'

The opening race at the picturesque Cheshire circuit ended early after an horrific-looking airborne crash involving Ameya Vaidyanathan, who fortunately was uninjured.

Randle had started the first race of three from third on the grid and after a demon start slipped ahead of Colton Herta and onto the back of pole man Collard.

The Kenninghall based racer put pressure on the leader in the early laps while keeping an eye on Herta, who was keen to regain his former position, but any further action was halted due to the Vaidyanathan crash.

'We got a good jump at the start and managed to get past Colton Herta for second,' said Randle on the rostrum. 'We could just about keep with Ricky Collard. Second is a good spot.'

With the top eight from race one inverted to form the grid for race two, Randle started from grid seven, just ahead of championship leader Collard, and although Randle beat him to the chequered flag he was unable to improve upon his starting position.

Race three was a rerun of the opening encounter with the local racer again unseating Herta to latch onto the back of Collard, who made no mistakes to take his second win of the meeting ahead of Randle.