Shane Kelly has taken his fifth Formula 3 race win in five races, maintaining his 100% winning record in the 2006 Enterprise Group Club Formula 3 Championship.

Round 5 of the Club F3 Championship was held at Snetterton on Sunday (9th July). The 150mph straights of the Norfolk circuit hosted the fastest race of the season so far, with average speeds in excess of 105mph.

Starting from 3rd place on the grid, after a hard fought battle in qualifying saw pole position go the way of Shane's main rival for the Championship Jon Gray, Shane was confident of a strong race.

Although the top three made equal starts and maintained position into the first turn, Shane made light work of the 2nd place starter Paul Quinn on the first of 22 laps and; as the rest of the field began to fall away from the leaders as they set a searing pace, he began putting pressure on the leader.

For the first ten laps of the race the gap between the two was never more than half a second, it was clear that Gray was holding Shane up, but his speed on straights prevented Shane from passing.

"Jon had tremendous speed along the straights." Said Shane after the race, "His newer car has the advantage of a 6th gear which he was able to use to overcome the advantage I should have had from his slipstream. I had to work really hard in the corners to put him under pressure".

As the leaders crossed the line on lap 12, the gap had extended to 2 seconds, but not for long, Shane began to reel the leader in and by lap 15 the gap was back to half a second. As the leaders started their 18th lap Shane was through and into the lead, a mistake by Gray at the corner leading on to the back straight allowed Shane to move alongside. Although Gray had the power to nose back in front along the straight, Shane had him where he wanted him and as they approached the Esses at over 150mph, Shane braked later and took the place around the outside.

"I knew I could go faster than Jon." Shane commented, "But he was so fast in a straight line. I decided to back off and give him some space so that I could look after my tyres and plan an overtaking move later in the race".
"Then I drove every lap like a qualifying lap and it paid off. Jon made a tiny mistake at the corner leading on to the back straight and I was able to get along side him on the run to the Esses, he was able to power back in front, but he was on the tighter line. I left my braking late and held it around the outside to take the place! It was probably the best overtaking manoeuvre I have ever made and definitely one of the hardest races I have driven."

Once into the lead, Shane set about building a gap he could maintain till the chequered flag. Just one lap later he was 2 seconds up the road and when Gray overshot the chicane on the penultimate lap in a vain attempt to keep up, the victory was safe.

The win means that Shane has a 25 point cushion at the top of the Championship table with four races remaining.

After the race, Shane had this to say:

"To finally win at Snetterton is great feeling! I have come so close in the past and finished on the podium in my last four races here. To get the win after a great fight for the lead makes it even better, it hasn't sunk in yet that it was my 5th win in a row!."

"We are definitely on a roll, but the team and I will not get complacent. We know that we cannot relax between now and the end of the season. We will be aiming for wins for sure, but the most important thing is that I finish each of the last four races strongly, the championship will then take care of itself!"