Tipton ST John’s Harry Tincknell secured his first victory of the season when the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series visited Rockingham, Northamptonshire, on June 9-10.

Tincknell got his weekend off to a respectable start in qualifying, setting a fastest lap time of 1:17.921 to secure fifth on the grid for the weekend’s feature race on Sunday.

However, he would start the opening race of the event on the back row after he was one of three racers deemed not to have respected track limits during qualifying. That didn’t deter the Devonian, who demonstrated his overtaking prowess by climbing up six places during the 22-lap encounter, finishing in seventh position.

As a result, Tincknell earned second place on the grid for Sunday’s sprint race. The talented teenager then went from strength to strength, leapfrogging polesitter Nick McBride to take the lead at turn one.

He maintained first place for the remainder of the 20-minute race, keeping team-mate Pietro Fantin at bay to take his maiden triumph of 2012 and the second F3 win of his career.

Tincknell’s excellent weekend came to an abrupt end in race three when contact from a car behind saw him forced to retire on the opening lap. The 20-year-old walked away from Rockingham with his head held high however, after an excellent haul of 24 points over the course of the weekend kept him sixth in the standings with 18 races remaining.

“I’ve been working really hard to improve my starts, and I’m delighted that it’s paid off,” said Tincknell. “I knew when race two started I just had to get in front by the first corner, and that’s exactly what happened. It worked perfectly.”

Tincknell is next in action at Brands Hatch, Kent, on 23-24 June 2012.