Ayrton Senna. Mika Hakkinen. Daniel Ricciardo. The list of notable names from the very top of motorsport to have won the British Formula 3 championship over the years goes on and on. And, on the surface, it seemed to feature a satisfyingly close title scrap between two team-mates in its final season just over a decade ago. However, the reality was very different.
Yes, Martin Cao did beat his rhyming Fortec Motorsport stablemate Matt Rao to the title by a mere two points – the narrowest conquering margin for a champion since Tommy Byrne enjoyed a similar gap over Enrique Mansilla in 1982 – but Cao did not take a victory until the Thruxton event, round five of seven.
