As the BRDC British F3 Championship drivers took to the Brands Hatch GP layout for the first time this weekend, it was Enaam Ahmed who led the way in his Carlin as troubles for his teammate saw Cameron Das‘ session come to an early end.
Practice would be marred by a failure for Das, who would pull off at the bottom of Graham Hill Bend. The American took to the slip road and was pushed into the paddock to be swarmed by his own team. The car cut off to the surprise of many, though should make a return for qualifying.
Elsewhere, an off for Nicolai Kjaergaard saw the Dane push the limits of his Fortec Motorsport car on his way to a respectable sixth place overall.
Ahmed had been off the pace for all of Friday, but was back at the top of the leaderboard with a 1min 21.298 around the GP circuit on Saturday morning. With the track dry and weather warming up, it was ideal conditions for the drivers to get a grip of the of the longer layout.
Toby Sowery proved that he was still within contention, going second with a time 0.166 seconds slower than the Carlin runner. The the surprise of none, the remaining front-runners completed the top five as James Pull lead Ben Hingeley and Callan O’Keeffe.
Having been the man to beat of Friday, O’Keeffe will be disappointed to be almost half a second off the pace, though was still more competitive than Chase Owen, who fell back to ninth in the overall order.
Kjaergaard would be best of the midfield runners in sixth, with Jamie Chadwick and Manuel Maldonado all inside the top eight. Finally, it was returning face Krishnaraaj Mahadik who rounded out the top ten.
