1996 British Formula Three season

The 1996 British Formula Three season was the 46th British Formula Three Championship. The season started on 31 March at Silverstone and ended there on 13 October following sixteen races. After losing out in the final reckoning to Oliver Gavin in 1995, Ralph Firman was able to clinch the crown on his second attempt from Kurt Mollekens and teammate Jonny Kane. New Zealander Simon Wills took the Class B title.

Drivers and Teams

Team	No	Driver	Class	Chassis	Engine	Rounds
Paul Stewart Racing	1	Ralph Firman	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
	2	Jonny Kane	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
Fortec Motorsport	3	Guy Smith	A	Dallara F396	HKS-Mitsubishi	All
	4	Juan Pablo Montoya	A	Dallara F396	HKS-Mitsubishi	All
Promatecme	5	James Matthews	A	Dallara F396	Renault	All
	6	Nicolas Minassian	A	Dallara F396	Renault	All
Alan Docking Racing	7	Brian Cunningham	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
	8	Gonzalo Rodríguez	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-4
		Akbar Ebrahim				8
		Steven Arnold				9
	11	Kurt Mollekens	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
	12	Risto Virtanen	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-4
TWR Junior Team	9	Jamie Davies	A	Dallara F396	TWR GM	All
	10	Mark Shaw	A	Dallara F396	TWR GM	All
Intersport	14	Ángel Burgueño	A	Dallara F396	Opel	All
SpeedSport F3	15	Darren Manning	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	All
	35	Michael Bentwood	B	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	All
TOM'S GB	16	Christian Horner	A	TOM'S 036	TOM'S-Toyota	1-6
		Naoki Kurose		Dallara F396		16
	17	Brian Smith	A	TOM'S 036	TOM'S-Toyota	All
	18	Takashi Yokoyama	A	Dallara F396	TOM'S-Toyota	1-3
				TOM'S 036		4-16
	19	Kazuto Yanagawa	A	Dallara F396	TOM'S-Toyota	All
DC Cook Motorsport	20	Paula Cook	A	Dallara F396	Mugen-Honda	1-11
Graff Racing	23	Boris Derichebourg	A	Dallara F396	Opel	11
		Patrice Gay				14-15
Z-Speed	27	Martin Byford	A	Dallara F396	Opel	1-9, 11-15
	31	Simon Wills	B	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	All
Hopkins Motorsport	33	Philip Hopkins	B	Dallara F393	Fiat	1-6, 8-9, 11-13, 16
		James Carney				14-15
Render Racing	34	Martin O'Connell	B	Dallara F394	Vauxhall	1-3, 7-9, 12-13
		Masami Nakamura				14-16
Team Magic Racing	36	Shingo Tachi	B	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	All
	37	Ben Collins	B	Dallara F394	Mugen-Honda	7-16
Mark Bailey Racing	47	Tavo Hellmund	B	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	1-7
	48	Chris Clark	B	Dallara F394	TOM'S-Toyota	1-4

Race calendar and results

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Class B Winner
1	Silverstone	31 March	Guy Smith	Ralph Firman	Guy Smith	Fortec Motorsport	Martin O'Connell
2			Guy Smith	Jamie Davies	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	Martin O'Connell
3	Thruxton	14 April	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	Simon Wills
4	Donington Park	5 May	Ralph Firman	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	Shingo Tachi
5	Brands Hatch	27 May	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	Simon Wills
6			Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	Philip Hopkins
7	Oulton Park	8 June	Jonny Kane	Juan Pablo Montoya	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	Martin O'Connell
8	Donington Park	23 June	Brian Smith	Juan Pablo Montoya	Kurt Mollekens	Alan Docking Racing	Martin O'Connell
9	Silverstone	13 July	Darren Manning	Jonny Kane	Darren Manning	SpeedSport F3	Martin O'Connell
10	Thruxton	28 July	Darren Manning	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	Ben Collins
111	Snetterton	11 August	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Ben Collins
12	Pembrey	1 September	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Ben Collins
13			Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Shingo Tachi
14	Zandvoort	29 September	Juan Pablo Montoya	Kurt Mollekens	Kurt Mollekens	Alan Docking Racing	Ben Collins
15			Brian Smith	Ralph Firman	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	Ben Collins
16	Silverstone	13 October	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	Simon Wills

^1 Round 11 was shortened due to heavy rain, and a planned second race at Snetterton was also cancelled.

Championship

Class A

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Ralph Firman	Paul Stewart Racing	188
2	Kurt Mollekens	Alan Docking Racing	148
3	Jonny Kane	Paul Stewart Racing	146
4	Nicolas Minassian	Promatecme	139
5	Juan Pablo Montoya	Fortec Motorsport	137
6	Guy Smith	Fortec Motorsport	132
7	Darren Manning	SpeedSport F3	105
8	Jamie Davies	TWR Junior Team	98
9	James Matthews	Promatecme	59
10	Brian Smith	TOM'S	44
11	Brian Cunningham	Alan Docking Racing	34
12	Angel Burgueno	Intersport	31
13	Mark Shaw	TWR Junior Team	12
14	Gonzalo Rodríguez	Alan Docking Racing	9
=15	Patrice Gay	Graff Racing	8
=15	Takashi Yokoyama	TOM'S	8
17	Martin Byford	Z-Speed	7
18	Risto Virtanen	Alan Docking Racing	4
19	Kazuto Yanagawa	TOM'S	3

Class B

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Simon Wills	Z-Speed	201
2	Shingo Tachi	Team Magic Racing	192
3	Ben Collins	Team Magic Racing	147
4	Martin O'Connell	Rowan Racing	131
5	Michael Bentwood	SpeedSport F3	119
6	Tavo Hellmund	Mark Bailey Racing	56
7	Philip Hopkins	Hopkins Motorsport	52
8	Chris Clark	Mark Bailey Racing	45
9	Masami Nakamura	Render Racing	20
10	James Carney	Hopkins Motorsport	12

References

AUTOCOURSE 1996-97
British Motorsport Year 1996-97

External links

• The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship