Jazeman Jaafar topped the second and final day of pre-season testing for the British Formula 3 series yesterday at Silverstone.
Like many of the field, the Carlin driver set his quickest time in the final afternoon session (1:52.920) following a cool and damp start to the day.
While Jaafar showed the way at the chequered flag, Fortec Motorsport’s Lucas Foresti displayed his natural skill in the difficult conditions prior to the grey lunch break, as did Carlos Huertas (Carlin) and the highly rated débutante, Scott Pye (Double R Racing).
By the close of action, it was Felipe Nasr that lined up on the timesheets just over one-tenth shy of Jaafar. The Brazilian has shown some exceptional speed during the four days of testing this year and is marking himself as one of the main championship favourites at this early stage.
Formula BMW Europe runner-up Jack Harvey completed a Carlin 1-2-3, with Double R Racing’s Pipo Derani breaking up the Carlin monopoly. Pye and Huertas eventually took 5th and 6th respectively – the pair continued their wet track form with solid dry running later on.
They edged Carlin’s Kevin Magnussen out of the top-six, although the Dane may well be pleased with his first tests in a Formula 3 machine.
Menasheh Idafar was one of the few that was quicker in the opening afternoon session. Despite not improving late on, the reigning National Champion had just nudged ahead of Pietro Fantin (9th, Hitech) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (10th, Carlin).
Sino Vision’s Hywel Lloyd missed out on the top ten by a mere 0.024 of-a-second; however the Welshman finished the day with a healthy 0.4 of-a-second gap to Foresti (12th) and Riki Christodoulou (13th).
Harry Tincknell’s best lap of 1:54.232 saw the Devon man slot in at 14th on the sheets ahead of Fortec teammate William Buller, while Yann Cunha (T-Sport) emerged 16th (1:54.747), ahead of Sino Vision racer, Adderly Fong (1:55.064).
The final two places were taken up by Rookie Class runners Bart Hylkema (18th) and Kotaru Sakurai (19th). Although Hylkema has spent much of the last two tests garnering laps, yesterday was Sakurai’s first run of the Mugen-Honda powered Dallara.
Sakurai never made an appearance during the damp morning conditions, eventually only taking to the track in the afternoon, setting a best lap of 1:58.092 from only 21 laps.
Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m52.920s 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m53.059s + 0.139s 3. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m53.207s + 0.287s 4. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 1m53.267s + 0.347s 5. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 1m53.306s + 0.386s 6. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 1m53.344s + 0.424s 7. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 1m53.396s + 0.476s 8. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m53.415s + 0.495s 9. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 1m53.469s + 0.549s 10. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 1m53.479s + 0.559s 11. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m53.503s + 0.583s 12. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m53.899s + 0.979s 13. Riki Christodoulou Hitech Dallara-VW 1m53.914s + 0.994s 14. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m54.232s + 1.312s 15. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m54.514s + 1.594s 16. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m54.747s + 1.827s 17. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m55.064s + 2.144s 18. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 1m55.402s + 2.482s 19. Kotaru Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 1m58.092s + 5.172s
