Brazilian Felipe Nasr took control of the latest official British Formula 3 testing session on Friday at the Brands Hatch circuit.
The rain held off for the morning session, in which current championship leader Nasr was a cut above the rest. The test itself took place ahead of Rounds 10-12 of the season at the same venue, and Nasr quickly set about posting the fastest lap of the morning, being the only driver to set a time below 1:18s. Carlin held a dominant lock-out of the top 6, filling every spot at the sharp end of the field, with team-mates Huertas, Harvey, Jaafar, Magnussen and Svendsen-Cook following respectively.
Nasr was pleased with his day’s work after both dry and wet sessions: “The car was great in all conditions, I love this circuit to drive and I am looking forward to the weekend. If I get a choice, I would prefer it to be dry for the races because I think maybe I have a bigger advantage in those conditions.”
A rain-soaked afternoon mixed up the time-sheets somewhat, though there were very few incidents throughout the session. The track was at its driest early on, allowing Huertas to capitalise ahead of Australian Scott Pye. Pietro Fantin and Menasheh Idafar were the only two victims of the wet conditions, which look set to continue throughout the weekend.
Carlin’s Jack Harvey commented afterwards: “The morning session was good; we had good pace and I used only one set of tyres to Felipe's two. The afternoon timesheet is not really representative of my speed because I wasn't out on track when it was at its driest. I think the weekend, if it continues like this, is going to be very unpredictable.”
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Official testing, Brands Hatch GP / 17/6/2011
Championship class
1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 17.847s / 1m 31.741s
2 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.072s / 1m 28.747s
3 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.410s / 1m 32.622s
4 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.423s / 1m 30.166s
5 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.484s / 1m 30.686s
6 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.501s / 1m 30.208s
7 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 18.577s / 1m 33.513s
8 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 18.773s / 1m 30.881s
9 Scott PYE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 18.821s / 1m 29.617s
10 Adderly FONG / CHN, Sino Vision Dallara-Mercedes 1m 18.924s / 1m 31.356s etc
Rookie class
1 Bart HYLKEMA / NED, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 21.382s / 1m 35.142s
2 Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN, Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 25.438s / 1m 36.793s