Billericay racer Matt Davies closed the gap on British Formula Three rival Jenson Button by finishing fifth at Brands Hatch.

Davies is now only 19 points behind hotly-tipped Button in the Rookie of the Year award although the pair of them were behind Scottish hotshot Andrew Kirkaldy at the Kent circuit on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Essex driver qualified fifth for the race but had hoped to start higher up the grid.

"Someone sabotaged our timing beacon and we didn't have any times for most of my run on my first set of tyres," said Davies.

"I got my first time, a 1m 19.1s, and felt I could do a 1m 18s on my second set, but as soon as I went out the track heated up and the balance of the car changed badly.

"I had to oversteer in places and understeer in others, which didn't give me confidence.

"Maybe I should have stayed out longer on my first set of tyres - it was just bad judgement."

In the race itself Davies clashed with Brazilian Aluzio Coelho on the first lap which cost them both a place to title contender Marc Hynes.

However, Davies - who thought his car's steering was damaged in the collision - managed to follow Hynes past Button on the eighth lap to regain his start position.

"I was really quick around the Surtees left-hander and had three goes at Marc, but I just couldn't get by," Davies added.

"That's where I managed to get past Jenson though. That's three races on the trot where we've both finished that I've beaten him now."

Davies will next be racing his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda F399 at Silverstone on July 10 when the Formula Three championship supports the British Grand Prix.

The race was won by Narain Karthikeyan, with Luciano Burti second and Andrew Kirkaldy third.

Picture, top: Matt Davies - had problems with his car after a crash on the first lap at Brands Hatch.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.