Carlin's Enaam Ahmed edged closer to the 2017 BRDC British F3 title after fending off a fighting Toby Sowery to clinch his 11th victory of the year in race one at Snetterton.

James Pull secured his 13th podium of the year with third place ahead of Ben Hingeley while Double R Racing's Krishnaraaj Mahadik claimed fifth. Cameron Das was sixth for Carlin ahead of Jordan Cane's Douglas Motorsport machine, with Guilherme Samaia, Jamie Chadwick and Callan O'Keeffe completing the top-10.

Ahmed made a good start to lead the field down to Riches on the first lap, with Sowery maintaining second place off the line, while Mahadik slipped from third to fifth. Ahmed led by 1.4 seconds at the end of the opening lap, but that was as big as his lead ever got, as a determined Toby Sowery looked to close the gap.

Sowery trimmed the lead to a second at the end of lap two, and although Ahmed was able to re-stretch it a lap later, Sowery wasn't done and by the end of lap six the lead was just half a second.

The pair then lapped at almost identical speed, with the gap remaining at 0.6 seconds until the final lap when Ahmed extended the gap to just under a second, clinching his 11th win of the season in the process.

Behind the duo at the front, Pull and Hingeley remained ahead of Mahadik for the duration of the race, although the Indian driver was just 0.296s behind Hingeley at the flag, Hingeley the big gainer on the opening lap, rising from seventh on the grid to fourth, which he kept for the whole race.

Cameron Das in sixth was a second clear of Douglas Motorsport's Jordan Cane while Guilherme Samaia improved one place on his grid position to take eighth. Jamie Chadwick enjoyed a strong race, climbing from 11th on the grid to finish ninth, with O'Keeffe just under half a second behind.

Omar Ismail gained a place on his grid position to take 11th, while Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing's Nick Worm headed an entertaining battle with Chase Owen and Manuel Maldonado, with Nicolai Kjaergaard completing the finishers.

Ahmed's title lead is up to 117 points, and now only needs to score 13 more points than his nearest rival Pull in tomorrow's second race of the weekend to claim the title with four races to spare. With the top-eight finishers on the grid reversed for race two however, and Pull starting from sixth place, Ahmed will have his work cut-out, but even so, it's likely he will be crowned after race three. Toby Sowery also remains within a mathematical chance of securing the title.

The top-three drivers were presented with their trophies on the podium by BRDC member and former British GT champion Alex Mortimer.

Ahmed commented: "Toby was quicker than me in that race I think and he really caught me. I was struggling a little with my car and I was sliding around a lot but I changed my driving style a bit and made do with what I had and just abut managed to keep the gap to Toby."

BRDC British F3 Championship, Snetterton race one result:

1. Enaam Ahmed, Carlin, 10 laps

2. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +0.942s

3. James Pull, Carlin, +5.616s

4. Ben Hingeley, Fortec Motorsports, +9.030s

5. Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +9.326s

6. Cameron Das, Carlin, +10.334s

7. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +11.926s

8. Guilherme Samaia, Double R Racing, +16.930s

9. Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing, +18.226s

10. Callan O'Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport, +18.720s

11. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +26.746s

12. Nick Worm, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +30.721s

13. Chase Owen, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +31.016s

14. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +34.271s

15. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Fortec Motorsports, +39.535s