Thomas Randle continued his good form from the last round of the championship by topping the BRDC British F3 practice times around the Oulton Park circuit. It proved to be tight amongst the frontrunners with the top three split by just 0.006 seconds.
Randle, who claimed his maiden British F3 victory at Rockingham last time out, comes into this weekend with the championship goal fully in mind. It may prove to be a strong weekend for three teams, as Carlin, Randle’s Douglas Motorsport and Double R Racing, locked out the top eight overall spaces.
The first session was held in damp conditions, with Ali Al Khalifa sliding and damaging his car. The Bahraini, making his debut this weekend, will be finding his limit and he adapts to the single seater machine. He finished the day, 4.5 seconds off the pace having learned a significant amount.
Also taking to the track was experienced Formula 3 racer and former MRF Challenge champion Rupert Svendsen-Cook. He would finish fourteenth in the overall times, one place ahead of Struan Moore, who was given the opportunity to test the new Hillspeed car.
The first session saw Matheus Leist at the top of the time sheets, but as the track dried, it was Randle who was left sitting pretty at the end of the second. His time, a 1:30.896 proved to be only 0.003s faster than Colton Herta, who’s standing in for Lando Norris this weekend who is racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series in Monaco.
Team mate Enaam Ahmed was the same distance behind that, proving the dominance and competitiveness of the Douglas Motorsport drivers. Championship leader, Ricky Collard, rounded out the top four with Enzo Bortoleto topping the Double R trio in fifth.
