After winning at Snetterton, Stefan arrived at Thruxton in Hampshire looking forward to another successful weekend, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

The testing day at the circuit a couple of weeks earlier had been rained off and Stefan had never driven there before, so he had no idea how the track would be until he ventured out for the first qualifying session on Saturday morning. He learnt fast, though, and qualified third in the National Class for race one, following up in the afternoon session with another third place for race two. He was reasonably happy with that, but felt there was more to come if they could improve the car's set-up.

For once, the weather was dry on both days (apart from a few spots of rain during another race on Sunday), so all the drivers were able to make the most of the fast, flowing circuit, which runs round the perimeter of an airfield. For the first race, National Class polesitter Andy Meyrick was 10th on the grid, with second-placed Jay Bridger 15th and Stefan 19th. Already faced with having to work hard to make progress, Stefan was slightly slow getting away and then lost a place to Steven Guerrero. With his set-up still not perfect, he was unable to try to retake the position and he spent most of the race running fourth. Towards the end he let an International Class car go past in a bid to pick up a tow and set the fastest lap, but it all went wrong when he ran wide over the grass and he eventually came home seventh.

In race two Stefan again made a bad start, but even a lightning getaway wouldn't have stopped him being overtaken by Andy Meyrick, who charged through from the back of the grid and went on to finish the race on the podium. In the opening laps Stefan survived a clout from behind by Hywel Lloyd as they came out of the final chicane, but a little later he lost a place to Salman Al Khalifa. In the battle that followed, the two traded places several times until it all went wrong as they collided and both cars ploughed off the track into some very long grass. Neither driver was hurt, but their race was over.

Afterwards, despite the non-finish, Stefan was pleased that his car had been performing much better. And that bodes well for the next F3 event, which is at a track Stefan is very familiar with - Brands Hatch.