Shane Kelly made it a hat-trick of race wins in the 2006 Club F3 Championship by taking victory in rounds 2 and 3 at the Rockingham Motor Speedway on Sunday (7th May).

The grid for race 1 had a similar look to the first round at Silverstone, with Shane lining up second behind Ken Finneran. However this time the gap was almost nonexistent with Shane's best lap just 0.08 seconds off the pole. "The times were coming down for the whole session" Shane said afterwards. "I had the pole when Ken finished his final lap to take it off me. I was still complete my final lap - which would have been quicker - but I was held up by a slower driver on the infield so I had to settle for second".

Race one began on a track soaked by overnight rain, but dry enough to require slick tyres. Confidence was high as the field formed for the start. Shane dispensed with Ken Finneran within the first 100 meters and led the field through Turn 1. As the field cautiously found their way around the first lap, Shane crossed the line with a 5 second lead. As the pack negotiated the final turn of the oval at the end of the lap, Alan Ellis lost his front wing against the back of a masters class car and - deprived of front downforce in the damp conditions - hit the concrete outside wall at high speed. This left debris in the track and posed the only threat to Shane's lead. After five laps Shane had a 30 second lead over reigning champion Keith Baldwin and by lap 13 he had lapped all but the podium placed drivers. At the flag Shane's lead was 57 seconds over Jon Gray in second and Chris Needham in third.

After the race Shane had this to say: "That was good! I really enjoyed the conditions, I love driving on slicks in the wet, this is something I did a lot of in karts (and still do) and it's a real advantage. The car was great, I could place it exactly where I wanted on the infield, this is where I made the most time over the others. The oval turn was really treacherous, but I found the best line right away and kept it safe (although I did have a couple of twitches, not what you need on an oval!).

Victory in race 1 provided Shane with the advantage of pole for race 2 (held in dry and bright conditions). Another flying start saw him straight into the lead at Turn 1, a spinner at the hairpin delayed the field and Shane again completed the lap 1 with a 5 second lead. This gap was doubled by lap 5 and with a battle raging for second place, Shane reduced his pace and maintained this gap to the flag to take a hat-trick of wins and a commanding lead in the championship standings.

"I knew I was going to win this one on the first lap! said Shane. "We made a very small change to the car in between the races and it was perfect. I was thinking about how the handling of the car was changing as the circuit was drying during the final laps of the first race, I thought that we may have had a little bit of understeer on a fully dry track. Ian worked over the data and he made a small change at the rear of the car. On the first lap, the tyres came up to temperature really well and the car was perfectly balanced. The gap I had meant that I could conserve the tyres and the engine and look after the car to the finish. I'm really looking forward to Donington now, where I'm confident I can extend my championship lead further!"