Fortec Motorsport's Manuel Maldonado converted pole position into his second BRDC British F3 race win of the year in a dramatic second race at Snetterton, which saw many of yesterday's front-running drivers hitting trouble.

Krishnaraaj Mahadik pushed Maldonado all the way, putting the Venezuelan under pressure throughout the latter stages of the race, and claimed second ahead of Hillspeed's Sasakorn Chaimongkol, who secured his first British F3 podium with third. Linus Lundqvist climbed from 15th on the grid to take fourth ahead of Arvin Esmaeili, who held third place until the penultimate lap. Jusuf Owega finished 0.2s behind to take sixth ahead of Pavan Ravishankar with Ben Hurst taking his best result of the year with eighth. Billy Monger and Tristan Charpentier completed the top-10.

Elsewhere, Nicolai Kjaergaard lost the championship lead he gained yesterday after failing to finish. The Dane made another exceptional start to gain 10 places on the first lap, and had moved into sixth place before retiring on lap three. Lundqvist's fourth place means he reclaims the championship lead.

With the reverse grid format handing Maldonado pole after a late off track excursion in race one, the Venezuelan made the most of his pole to lead the field down to Riches on lap one, and held a lead of 1.8 seconds after the first lap, with Esmaeili holding second and Mahadik third, making a good start of his own from eighth on the grid. The real mover though was Kjaergaard, who looked on course to add to his impressive race two points haul so far this year, with another big gain on the first lap. His fellow race one podium finishers also enjoyed good first laps, with Lundqvist rising from 15th to 10th and Maini climbing to 11th from 16th.

Maldonado's lead remained static at 1.8 seconds at the end of the second lap, while Mahadik continued his charge by passing Esmaeili for second. Kjaergaard made it 11 places gained with a move on Chaimongkol, however his charge was to end on the next lap with his second DNF of the year, with Tom Gamble also seemingly caught up in the drama as he too failed to complete lap three.

At the front, Mahadik began to trim Maldonado's lead, with the gap being 1.5 seconds on lap three and 1.1 seconds on lap four. Meanwhile Maini's charge from the back was also brought to a temporary halt after picking up a puncture, forcing him into the pits.

Mahadik was still closing the margin on Maldonado, with the lead down to 0.6 seconds on lap six, and 0.4 seconds on the penultimate lap. Maldonado though kept his cool to claim his second victory of the year, while Mahadik's second place is his first podium of 2018.

Chaimongkol's podium came after a move on Arvin Esmaeili on the penultimate lap, with Lundqvist impressing as he regained the championship lead, gaining 11 points for positions gained in the race. The Swede was 10th from 15th by the end of lap one, and moved into ninth on lap two. He was fifth by lap five and finally claimed fourth after following Chaimongkol through on Esmaeili on lap nine. Esmaeili had held his own in the top-three for much of the race, but fifth is still his best result of the year. Owega's sixth was also his personal best, likewise with Pavan Ravishankar and Ben Hurst.

Billy Monger gained two places on his starting position and moves up a place in the championship standings, with Charpentier also gaining two places on his way to 10th.

Harry Webb started from the pit lane in an attempt to get clear space to set a fastest lap, and also pitted in the early stages for fresh tyres, but was unable to match his time from race one, which proved the quicker of the two contests so far, yet still claimed 11th in the race. Sun Yue Yang and Jamie Chadwick both pitted to change front wings, with Maini the last classified finisher after his puncture.

The third race of the weekend starts at 14.40, with Linus Lundqvist on pole position.

BRDC British F3 Championship, Snetterton race two result:

1. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, 10 laps

2. Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +0.598s

3. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +4.796s

4. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, +5.292s

5. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, +8.373s

6. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, +8.594s

7. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, +9.238s

8. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +25.883s

9. Billy Monger, Carlin, +27.903s

10. Tristan Charpentier, Fortec Motorsports, +29.101s

11. Harry Webb, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1m19.801s

12. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +1m23.611s

13. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +1m31.055s

14. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +1 lap

DNF. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, 8 laps

DNF. Tom Gamble, Fortec Motorsports, 2 laps

DNF. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, 2 laps