Felipe Nasr once again scorched his way to the top of the timesheets on the second day of testing for the 2011 British Formula 3 Championship at the Rockingham circuit.
The teams and drivers enjoyed a dry day, and a faster track as a result. The conditions allowed Nasr to set a laptime of 1:10.586, one and a half seconds faster than the pole position time set in qualifying last season. The top 7 times were under the 1:11 mark, and 5 of those were also set by Carlin drivers, only HiTech Racing could disrupt their strong presence at the sharp end of the field.
Second to Nasr was Dutch team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who managed a time only a tenth behind the Brazilian. Familiar names from yesterday occupied the rest of the top 5, as Carlos Huertas, Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Pietro Fantin and Jazeman Jaafar all lay less than three tenths apart respectively. Fantin’s team-mate Riki Christodoulou set the seventh fastest time, still in the exclusive 1:10 club with his HiTech Dallara-Volkswagen.
British drivers rounded out the top 10 with Jack Harvey in eighth on a low 1:11, closely followed by two Fortec racers Harry Tincknell and William Buller. Tincknell took the honours for the fastest Mercedes-engined time, a mere five hundredths ahead of Buller.
8-9 March is the scheduled date for the next official test at the Silverstone track in Northamptonshire. The teams will be forced to use the valuable time wisely to be as prepared as possible for the season’s opening weekend at Monza in Italy in mid-April.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Official testing, Rockingham / 1-2 March 2011
Leading runners Tuesday / Wednesday
1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.953s / 1m 10.586s
2 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.528s / 1m 10.732s
3 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.994s / 1m 10.792s
4 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.110s / 1m 10.838s
5 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.772s / 1m 10.925s
6 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.121s / 1m 10.954s
7 Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.530s / 1m 10.984s
8 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.358s / 1m 11.261s
9 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 11.904s / 1m 11.507s
10 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 12.084s / 1m 11.554s
Full timings can be found here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2011&series=BF3GT&event=testing&source=bf3gt2006&eventid=110917