Today marked the final day of pre-season testing for the British Formula 3 Series and it was Carlin’s Carlos Huertas that emerged the top man.
Having shed the damp cover that spoiled much of yesterday’s running at Snetterton, the Colombian claimed an early advantage in the morning’s cooler conditions, with a best lap of 1:39.521.
Indeed Huertas’ best was half-a-second quicker than yesterday’s best by teammate Kevin Magnussen. As luck would have it, Magnussen was next up on the time sheets, as he registered a solid 77 lap day. The Dane topped the afternoon session, but it was not enough to topple Huertas come the finish of play.
After an encouraging Tuesday test, Double R Racing’s Pipo Derani took 3rd overall, just 0.003 shy of Magnussen; however the young Brazilian only clocked up 46 laps during the day. Derani has displayed quite a bit of speed during the pre-season tests and is certainly lining up to spring an occasional surprise.
Brazil’s Felipe Nasr took 4th place with a quickest lap of 1:39.834. The Carlin driver came away with an advantage of two-tenths over Pietro Fantin (5th, Hitech) and young Briton Jack Harvey (6th, Carlin). Harvey registered some solid running today after technical difficulties cut short his Tuesday running.
Reigning British Formula Ford champion Scott Pye (Double R Racing) secured 7th having taken his fastest stab in the morning. The Australian suffered from limited running, as he clocked up 38 tours of the revised Snetterton circuit.
However, Pye had done enough to jump ahead of Jazeman Jaafar (8th, Carlin), Lucas Foresti (9th, Fortec Motorsport) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (10th, Carlin).
Riki Christodoulou claimed 11th in Hitech machine, albeit nine-tenths down on Huertas. His best of 1:40.414 beat William Buller (Fortec) to 12th by a mere 0.004; however both will be aiming for higher up the table when the important stuff starts next week.
Adderly Fong (13th) was the quickest Sino Vision runner, but will be disappointed to be entire second off of the pace of the leading Carlin. Fong headed Fortec’s Harry Tincknell (14th) on the timesheets, while reigning National Class champion Menasheh Idafar lingered just behind.
Hywel Lloyd (Sino Vision) took 16th with a best 1.2 seconds down on Huertas; however the Welsh pilot observed a three-tenths advantage over visiting driver Richard Bradley (Double R).
Yann Cunha’s best of 1:41.367 was just enough for 18th, while the sole Rookie Class runner, Bart Hylkema rounded up the field, some 2.93 seconds shy of the top spot.
Fellow Rookie Class pilot, was sadly unable to run today – Kotaru Sakurai’s chassis was damaged late in yesterday’s session, rendering it unusable today.
And with that, the teams will begin to pack away their gear and ship it out to Italy in a few days time.
The first race will be at Monza next weekend.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series Official testing, Snetterton / 6 April 2011 1 Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.521s 2 Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.671s 3 Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 39.674s 4 Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.834s 5 Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.062s 6 Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.076s 7 Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 40.161s 8 Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.301s 9 Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 41.219s 10 Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.322s 11 Riki Christodoulou Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.414s 12 William Buller Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 40.418s 13 Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m 40.526s 14 Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 40.583s 15 Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.700s 16 Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m 40.723s 17 Richard Bradley Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 41.078s 18 Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 41.367s 19 Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 42.451s
