Shane Kelly started his challenge for the inaugural Enterprise Group Club Formula 3 Championship title in the best possible way with victory in the season opening race at Silverstone on Saturday. Starting from second on the grid Shane pressed the pole sitter Ken Finneran hard for the first 3 laps before charging past into Copse Corner on lap 4. Keith Baldwin also past Finneran and challenged Shane for the lead before spinning out half way through the race. Shane had the luxury of a 24 second lead over Jon Gray and Alan Ellis at the chequered flag.

Confidence in the SK camp was high prior to qualifying after a successful pre season testing program. The team used the first half of the qualifying session to scrub in the tyres Shane would be using to qualify and in the race. Returning to the pits half way through the session Shane reported that the circuit was very slippery, the culprit was Paul Sibley who pulled into the pits with oil flooding from his Dallara F3-94. Back out on the circuit to set a time Shane spent a few laps waiting for the oil to be cleaned from the racing line, before setting what would be his fastest time on lap 17 of 56.578 seconds.
Ken Finneran qualified on pole position and the top five drivers were covered by less than a second.

During the post qualifying debrief Shane and race engineer Ian Smith decided that a change of gear ratios would gain Shane the time he lost to the pole sitter Ken Finneran. Number 1 Mechanic Phil Stoodley set about stripping and rebuilding the Dallara gearbox in record time.

Lining up for the start there the team hoped that a good start from Shane would allow him to challenge for the lead in the opening laps. From the lights Shane maintained his second place behind Ken Finneran and set about piling on the pressure.
"Ken should have been quicker than me I think" said Shane, "but I got straight onto him and kept the pressure on by showing my nose down the inside at a couple of corners, he went very defensive and it slowed him down to a pace that I could keep with him".
The pressure paid off when at the end of lap three Shane lined Ken up in the exit of Luffield and slipstreamed him down the pits straight before taking the lead on the inside of Copse Corner. Keith Baldwin had made progress from fifth on the grid and immediately began to challenge Finneran for second, this allowed Shane to begin building a gap. Keith was up into second within a lap and a close battle began for the lead with Shane and Keith pulling away from the pack. Finneran retired on lap 12 with a puncture and Baldwin tripped up whilst braking for Brooklands on lap 17 and spun into the gravel, to his credit he managed to avoid taking Shane off with him, but none the less he was out of the race. This left Shane with a 20 second lead over Alan Ellis who was promoted to second place and a lonely run to the flag. Jon Gray recovered from a spin to challenge Ellis for second and they swapped places with three laps to go and crossed the line 24 seconds behind Shane.

"What a race!" said and ecstatic Shane after the race, "I knew I could get past Ken if I just put him under a bit of pressure, he defended strongly but he gave me room into Copse, it was good racing. I hoped that Keith would be held up a bit, but he was through within a lap and I didn't have a chance to build a gap. I could hold him off without to many problems, but he was definitely quicker than me between Luffield and Copse, so I had to defend a couple of times. I saw him spin behind me, there wasn't allot I could do about it, the track was beginning to get oily again so the pace was slowing a bit I think it must have just caught him out."
"It's great to get the season off to a winning start, this Championship rewards consistency and for the last two seasons I have had really consistent runs after problems in the first races. Now I am in front so the pressure is off as far as I'm concerned! I'm looking forward to Rockingham and I'm confident maintaining my lead in the Championship."