Harry Tincknell is currently joint seventh in the drivers’ standings in the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series on 48 points with 21 races still to be contested.

The next Cooper Tires series race is at Rockingham, Northamptonshire, on June 9-10. Prior to that, Tincknell will compete in Formula 3 Euro Series this coming weekend at Brands Hatch, Kent, on May 19-20.

The prestigious street circuit of Pau, France, saw 20-year-old Tincknell claim a seventh-place finish at the notoriously difficult former Grand Prix circuit, before its narrow streets and challenging corners caused the Carlin Motorsport driver to retire from the second race.

“Pau is an extremely difficult circuit: the slightest mistake and you’re in the wall. It was really disappointing that things went this way in the second race, but Rockingham is next on the calendar, which is one of my favourite tracks. I’ve won there before and was fastest in testing earlier this year, so I’m confident of strong results,” he concluded.

With 24 cars to contend on the tight twists of Pau, the highly competitive pack was split into two for qualifying. In the second group, Tincknell set the sixth fastest lap time of 1:11.164 to secure 11th on the grid for both races.

Renowned for being difficult to overtake, Tincknell made a strong start on the 2.7-mile circuit, moving up two places to ninth. On lap nine an incident ahead caused a yellow flag, with several competitors colliding as the pack came to a halt. However, Tincknell wound his way through the debris and moved up two places to seventh, which he maintained until the chequered flag, adding eight championship points to his tally.

Another good start in the second race allowed Tincknell to maintain position during the opening laps. However, along with many of the series competitors during the weekend, Tincknell fell victim to the circuit’s tight turns. On lap ten he ran wide and collided with the barrier at turn three, forcing him into retirement.

“Race one was pretty exciting!” exclaimed Tincknell. “After a great start we maintained pace and luck fell our way as I managed to get around the incident unharmed. After ten years of racing you never expect to brake after coming out of a corner, but instinct took over.