Jean-Eric Vergne extended his lead at the top of the British Formula 3 championship standings amid chaotic scenes at Rockingham on Sunday.
The French Carlin driver won the first of the three weekend races, with maiden victories in races two and three for Daniel McKenzie and Felipe Nasr respectively.
Vergne held off the challenge of Colombian Carlos Huertas to finish 0.2 seconds ahead of the Raikkonen Robertson racer in a thrilling first race, but those two would meet again, quite literally, in race three.
The second race featured mandatory pitstops for the first time and it was McKenzie's Fortec team who made the best strategic call – bringing its driver in last of all the 21 runners – with Vergne finishing a disappointing ninth.
The real drama came on Sunday in the 40-minute 'feature' race, with Brazilian Nasr the chief beneficiary of a first-lap maelstrom that eliminated his Raikkonen Robertson team-mate Huertas and badly delayed poleman Oli Webb of Fortec.
Fortec claimed Vergne was at fault for both incidents, although Formula 3 stewards have since thrown out the protest.
The cars of Vergne and Huertas came into contact on the run down to Deene with the Colombian spinning down the track and into retirement.
The crash damaged Vergne's left rear wheel, resulting in a pressure loss in the brakes, which meant the Frenchman was unable to avoid hitting the rear of Webb's Dallara-Mercedes during the following hairpin.
Webb did well to recover but could not finish higher than sixth, while Vergne ended runner-up to Nasr.
That second place, allied to his win in race one, has seen Vergne extend his championship lead over a disgruntled Webb to 51 points.
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