Silverstone, 26th May 2013 - Indonesia’s Sean Gelaelhas taken a sensational podium finish on just his fifth race weekend in the hotly-contested Formula 3 category.

Sixteen-year-old Gelael finished in third place on the famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in the first race of this year’s British Formula 3 International Series.

As a result of his Saturday performance, Sean has moved into third position overnight in the points table before Sunday’s two races.

Driving his Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes in a field that consisted of drivers of 13 different nationalities, Gelael started the race from seventh on the grid. He gradually moved up the order thanks to other drivers colliding, but then had to find his way past highly-rated British driver JannMardenborough, whose career is supported by Nissan.

Sean passed him with three laps to go, and finished the race in style while keeping his distance from Double R team-mate Tatiana Calderon, who was chasing behind.

He could have gone faster, but drivers are allowed only two sets of the racing slick tyres to use through qualifying and the three races, so he was conserving his tyres for one of Sunday’s races.

“I made a decent start and then I was able to find out what the pace was by running in the pack,” he said. “I just tried to hold onto my tyres, thinking of the races tomorrow, and finally some luck came on my side!”

This was the first time Gelael has returned to a track where he has already raced an F3 car, as he competed in the FIA F3 European Championship round at Silverstone last month.

“It shows that with track knowledge things can be much better,” he added. “This has given me a big boost of confidence for the next races.”

The result means that Sean will start third of the International Class drivers on the grid for race two on Sunday, in which the positions of the leading drivers from race one are reversed. He will also start the final race from third on the grid after a stunning qualifying performance in which he was just four tenths of a second away from pole position!

With rain having marred much of the European championship season, the sun came out at Silverstone for qualifying and Gelael joked: “Asian drivers are always quick when the sun comes out! On my first set of tyres I was experimenting with racing lines and did not really get a good lap in, but on my second set it felt really good. I can’t wait for the race!”