Archie Hamilton proved untouchable on the final day of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship official test at Croft. The Fortec Motorsport star topped the timesheets in all three of the day's 55 minute sessions, though was aided by Dino Zamparelli, who was quickest the previous day, missing the second day's running.
Hampshire-based Hamilton proved why he is considered one of the early championship favourites with a great display of speed, setting a time 1.037s faster than his closest rival in session one. The 19 year old went on to top session two by 0.743s, before finishing the day over half a second clear with a best time of 1min 19.858s on fresh Michelin rubber in session three.
Hamilton's closest competition came in the form of Mtech driver James Thorp. The Evesham driver followed on from his strong performance on day one and was consistently quick throughout the day, finishing in the top three in all the sessions.
Narrowly missing out on second spot was Hillspeed's Indian driver Zaamin Jaffer. The Cardiff-based youngster finished sixth in the first session, but improved over the afternoon to end up just 0.025s behind Thorp with a best time of 1min 20.432s.
The day saw four new faces join the field, with Howard Fuller ending up the quickest of them with the fourth fastest time of the day. The Kingston upon Thames based driver, who finished third in the BARC class in the 2010 Winter Series, set an impressive second fastest time in session one and ended up within a second of the pacesetter Hamilton.
Just 0.083 seconds behind was Fuller's Scorpio teammate Hector Hurst. The Lymington based driver, who has been testing hard over recent weeks and really impressed on day one, spent the first two sessions working on techniques before pushing for a time in the final session. However problems with traffic on his fresh tyre runs left him lower down the timesheets than his pace deserved.
Completing the top six, just as he did on day one, was Fortec Motorsport's Victor Jimenez. The Spaniard looked quick during the first two sessions of the day, finishing both fourth fastest, but was unable to maintain this speed in the final session, with his best time of 1min 20.896s coming from session two.
Next up were the three other drivers making their first appearances at the North Yorkshire circuit on day two. Antel Motorsport's Callum Bowyer led the trio with a best time of 1min 21.173s, followed by MGR Motorsport duo Matt Mason and Russell Danzey.
Completing the timesheets were SWB Motorsport's Raoul Owens, Sean Walkinshaw of Hillspeed and JWA Racing's Tom Walker, who didn't make an appearance in the final session of the day.
Commenting on his perfect day, Hamilton said: “It's gone well today and overall for the test. We've had good pace and the car has felt impressive. The strong winds meant we couldn't surpass yesterday's best time but I'm still impressed at how quick we were able to go in the conditions and I'm feeling confident ahead of the season.”
The BARC runners next official test session takes place during the Championships first ever Media Day at Silverstone on March 18th, before the series opening rounds at Donington Park on 23rd/24th April.
