It was an Aussie 1-2 in Practice at Brands Hatch GP before the 2021 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship begins in the afternoon, as Christian Mansell (Carlin) topped the times ahead of Bart Horsten (Hitech GP).
Mansell also ended Session 3 of Friday testing on the Indy circuit fastest, with Carlin topping three of the four sessions (Zak O’Sullivan 2, Mansell 1).
Arden Motorsport‘s Frederick Lubin took Session 4 as rain slowed times by as much as nine seconds.
Ayrton Simmons (Chris Dittmann Racing) set the fastest lap ahead of the Carlin pair of Mansell and Zak O’Sullivan in the opening minutes.
O’Sullivan and Mansell overtook the five-time British F3 race winner with 12 minutes remaining, with the top four separated by less than three tenths.
Reece Ushijima (Hitech GP) shot to the front for the first time this season with a 1:34.611 heading into the second half of the session, a time quickly bested by O’Sullivan and Simmons, who set identical fastest times in the first testing session on the Indy layout on Friday.
Indeed, the pair set the fastest time in Practice no less than six times between them.
Ushijima’s Hitech team-mate Bart Horsten then went quickest, with Bryce Aron (Carlin) jumping eight places to sixth with a 1:34.682 before the session was red-flagged with eight minutes remaining, seemingly for an issue with Hitech’s Mexican driver, Sebastian Alvarez.
The entire field headed back out of the pits for the final four minutes, with Mansell getting straight back to business with a time over half a second quicker than the rest of the field, with Oliver Bearman (Fortec) and Ushijima split by hundredths in second and third.
At the end of the session, Mansell topped the timesheets as he did in Session 3 on Friday, ahead of his compatriot Horsten, with Bearman just ahead of Javier Sagrera putting the Elite Motorsport car higher than we saw it throughout testing.
Simmons led Ushijima by less than a tenth in fifth and sixth, with a gap back to O’Sullivan in seventh, before Lubin, Roberto Faria (Fortec) and Alex Connor (Arden) were split by 0.025s to round out the top ten.
2021 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship Brands Hatch Practice Results:
Pos | No. | Name | Nat. | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
1 | 21 | Christian Mansell | AUS | Carlin | 1:32.235 | 11 | |
2 | 50 | Bart Horsten | AUS | Hitech GP | 1:32.695 | +0.410 | 10 |
3 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:32.941 | +0.706 | 11 |
4 | 3 | Javier Sagrera | ESP | Elite Motorsport | 1:32.994 | +0.759 | 11 |
5 | 18 | Ayrton Simmons | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | 1:33.174 | +0.939 | 11 |
6 | 13 | Reece Ushijima | JPN | Hitech GP | 1:33.228 | +0.993 | 10 |
7 | 51 | Zak O’Sullivan | GBR | Carlin | 1:33.443 | +1.208 | 11 |
8 | 78 | Frederick Lubin | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:33.861 | +1.626 | 10 |
9 | 7 | Roberto Faria | BRA | Fortec Motorsports | 1:33.883 | +1.648 | 9 |
10 | 27 | Alex Connor | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:33.886 | +1.651 | 10 |
11 | 90 | Alex Fores | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | 1:33.904 | +1.669 | 11 |
12 | 23 | Bryce Aron | USA | Carlin | 1:33.940 | +1.705 | 11 |
13 | 55 | Dexter Patterson | GBR | Douglas Motorsport | 1:34.208 | +1.973 | 10 |
14 | 12 | Sebastian Alvarez | MEX | Hitech GP | 1:34.781 | +2.546 | 6 |
15 | 34 | Tom Lebbon | GBR | Elite Motorsport | 1:34.806 | +2.571 | 10 |
16 | 81 | Max Marzorati | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | 1:34.977 | +2.742 | 11 |
17 | 99 | Jose Garfias | MEX | Elite Motorsport | 1:35.167 | +2.932 | 9 |
18 | 43 | Mikkel Grundtvig | DEN | Fortec Motorsports | 1:35.926 | +3.691 | 10 |
19 | 10 | Reema Juffali | SAU | Douglas Motorsport | 1:37.511 | +5.276 | 10 |