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Canadians Put on Show in Vancouver

18.12.2013 - The home crowd got a show from the three Canadians in the field in a dramatic and error-filled Vancouver F3 race. Top Canadian Dante Vanderpuije battled back to beat home town favorite Monty Semprini to the podium while Ricky Dean also made the top ten with a ninth place finish on a day when all three drivers were at one point running fourth-fifth-sixth in the seaside Vancouver sunshine. Vanderpuije was the favorite for victory after taking pole by more than a quarter second from Josef Svec, but a poor restart after a safety car period forced him into an uphill struggle all the way from fifteenth. An early error also saw Semprini slip down the order but a timely pitstop under yellow allowed him to eventually move up with the front runners. For Dean it was a solid drive until running wide out of Turn 10 he dropped from third place down to eighth just after half distance, and then after contact with Robje Vlaswinkel had to nurse his damaged car home for the final five laps.

"The race was going amazingly at the beginning, I had so much pace in hand and I was building an impressive lead," said Vanderpuije. "I made a huge mistake on the restart after being too eager to pick up from where we were previously, and then I made another massive mistake on the following lap trying to regain that lost time once more!" The top ranked Canadian admitted his own errors. "Completely rookie stuff from me! The fault was all mine. We somehow managed to make it back onto the podium but we should have had this win. It would've been nice for the fans but again, my fault on the final result."

"Sloppy race all around for sure, but gotta be pretty happy with fourth even if we lost third with two laps to go," said Semprini. "Would have been nice to be on the podium in my home town."

"For me and my team, we enjoy this race but we were not happy with the final result," said Dean. "We were not as fast as Dante and Semprini but we took the good way (like Semprini) to stop earlier under the yellow lap 20. After a good and fast pit stop we were able to reach the third place and we think we can stay there and have a tenth podium this season in front ours Canadian fans, but on lap 30th I made a big mistake in Turn 10 and goes of track losing all the advantage gain earlier."

The race could not have started better for Vanderpuije opening up a huge twelve second advantage over second-placed Géraud Nimeau of France until the pivotal lap 19 when a three car incident put the course under yellow. Jose Luis Ort made an ill-advised move on Wendell Scott in the very fast Turn 11 right-hander, made contact and Niko Saarela tried to seize the opportunity to get through. Chaos ensued and left most of Ort's car scattered all the way down the short chute to the braking zone of Turn 12. In the aftermath, Ort was out of the race, Saarela continued on with damage and Scott was lucky to come out of it seemingly unscathed. Three cars pitted under caution, Dean, Semprini and Josef Svec.

The cars stayed in order on the restart but Vanderpuije lost the lead getting a bit sideways into that same Turn 11 and losing several places. Four corners later a similar mistake dropped him all the way to fifteenth, just behind Semprini who had already pitted.

By lap 29 all the leaders had made their stops leaving Svec alone in front due to his stop under caution, four seconds clear of Arnold Justasarni and Dean, but one lap later Dean made his big error and Semprini was the top Canadian runner in fifth place. Soon after, the Vancouver crowd came to their feet when hometown Semprini inherited third after a very late pitstop by Zdenek Franc.

Meanwhile Vanderpuije had crept his way back into the top ten as a hard charging Svetlio Dimitrov bullied his way into the lead, but perhaps pushed his car too hard and pulled over with suspension damage, handing first place back to Svec. Semprini lost third place to Justasarni, but when Vanderpuije moved ahead of Zdenek Franc at that same Turn 11 all three Canadians were running fourth-fifth-sixth to the delight of the crowd.

"It was great to see them all get out of their seats when we came by," said Semprini. "You could even hear them in the slow corners, it was amazing."

"I loved the atmosphere coming into this race, but after what happened I was determined to make up as much ground as possible," said Vanderpuije. "But I think it would have been quite awesome to watch us three Canadians race each other."

"Three Canadians drivers in a Canadian race is good news for national fans. Especially when they fight for the podium," said Dean.

With six laps to go Vanderpuije took advantage of a mistake by Dean and slipped past at the final corner setting up the most intense four laps of the race. Nimeau retired after puffs of black smoke were seen coming from his engine making the fight between Monty and Dante one for the podium. Semprini seemed to struggle with grip in the late stages and with two laps to go Vanderpuije would not be denied. Hunting him down for four laps, he moved in for the kill with a great run down the front straight into Turn 2, snatching away third place on the penultimate lap.

Svec won the race from the American Justasarni, but the real story was the three way battle between the three Canadians in front of the home crowd.

"At the end there Monty seemed slower than usual. I saw him recovering after a mistake in the closing stages and by that point he wasn't as quick as usual, maybe his tyres had gone off. He blocked me really well at the end but the our car was just mega so putting the finishing move on him wasn't too difficult," said Vanderpuije. "Ricky is a good racer, very experienced, and Monty is getting there. I wish them all the best for the future!"

"It was a tough race with good drivers involve in. Everyone had to push all the time, as a result nineteen drivers didn't make the distance," said Dean.

"I just didn't have the pace at the end. It was a combination of things. Nimeau left oil all over the place. I struggled with that, but Arnold and Dante didn't seem to have a problem. I guess Dante had fresher tyres too, but I just couldn't stop him. He's super fast," said Semprini. "Dante and Ricky are the best Canada has to offer right now and I'm just stoked to go wheel-to-wheel with both of them today."

race link:
http://www.myracingcareer.com/en/report/6-3964/