Fortec Motorsport's Ben Hingeley converted pole to victory in the first race of the weekend at Donington Park this afternoon (Sunday). The British driver held off champion Enaam Ahmed on the run down to Redgate on the first lap, and then withstood the pressure throughout the race to claim his fourth win of the year.

Ahmed settled for second after harrying Hingeley throughout, with Cameron Das completing the podium finishers. James Pull climbed from eighth on the grid to claim fourth place and moved into second in the championship standings as a result.

Jordan Cane claimed fifth, with Chase Owen sixth. Callan O'Keeffe, Nicolai Kjaergaard, Jamie Chadwick and debutant Alex Quinn completed the top-10.

Hingeley maintained his pole position advantage at the start, but Ahmed made a slightly better get away and was able to draw alongside on the run down to Redgate. Trying a move around the outside, Ahmed was elbowed out as Hingeley held the lead down the Craner Curves.

Further back, there were fast starts for the Carlin duo of Cameron Das and James Pull. Das jumped past Chase Owen into third place, while a charging Pull surged from eighth on the grid to be in fourth by the end of the opening tour. Owen starting third had fallen to sixth in the early stages with Jordan Cane climbing a place into fifth.

At the front the gap between Hingeley and Ahmed hovered around the half a second mark throughout, falling as low as 0.4 seconds and rising only to 0.8 seconds as the pair consistently lapped closely. Ahmed constantly had Hingeley under pressure, with the pair almost nose to tail entering Goddards hairpin on the final lap, with the Fortec driver just hanging on to add victory to those already secured at Rockingham, Silverstone and Spa, and climbing to fourth in the standings as a result.

Das in third wasn't quite able to join the scrap for the top-two, but still claimed his seventh podium of the season, just over a second ahead of team mate Pull.

Cane in fifth was a second further back, ahead of Owen, who was hopeful of a maiden podium ahead of the race, but does have the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the race which may aid his quest for race three pole position.

O'Keeffe dropped two places from his starting position to finish seventh, ahead of Kjaergaard who made up three places on his grid position with his eighth place finish and secured pole for race two tomorrow morning, with Jamie Chadwick holding ninth throughout the encounter.

Debutant Quinn was the benefactor of an entertaining scrap for the final place in the top-10, passing Manuel Maldonado on lap eight to claim a top-10 finish in his first race. However he was handed a five second penalty post-race for exceeding track limits, and Maldonado was promoted to the position.

The top-three drivers on the podium were presented with their trophies by BRDC Member Joe Osbourne. Hingeley was also presented with the Muriel Tomlinson Trophy by the Donington Park Racing Association Club.

BRDC British F3 Championship, Donington Park, race one result:

1. Ben Hingeley, Fortec, 12 laps

2. Enaam Ahmed, Carlin, +0.415s

3. Cameron Das, Carlin, +2.297s

4. James Pull, Carlin, +3.400s

5. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +4.586s

6. Chase Owen, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +5.855s

7. Callan O'Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport, +7.289s

8. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Fortec Motorsports, +11.542s

9. Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing, +14.266s

10. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +16.244s

11. Alex Quinn, Lanan Racing, +20.543s

12. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, +24.950s

13. Jeremy Wahome, Chris Dittmann Racing, +25.282s

14. Guilherme Samaia, Double R Racing, +29.465s