Carlin pair Kevin Magnussen and Felipe Nasr made free practice for the British Formula 3 visit to the Nurburgring their own yesterday.
Opening to a damp track, the early running would see Nasr set a best of 2:10.082 – half-a-second quicker than next up Magnussen and a full 1.5 seconds faster than William Buller (3rd, Fortec) and Pipo Derani (4th, Double R).
Despite the poor conditions, plenty of laps were run, with Buller and Fortec teammate Lucas Foresti completing the most mileage, setting 18 laps apiece.
Come the second session, Magnussen returned the favour. On a drying track, the Dane ran the Nurburgring quickest with a 1:53.965 – some six-hundredths faster than Nasr’s best.
Three more Carlin runners (Carlos Huertas, Jazeman Jaafar and Rupert Svendsen-Cook) filled out the top five, while Hywel Lloyd claimed a surprise 6th for Sino Vision Racing, albeit nearly seven-tenths adrift of Magnussen.
In both sessions, Bart Hylkema (T-Sport) proved to be quicker than Rookie Class rival Kotaro Sakurai (Hitech).
The morning session saw a new and returning pair of names to the time sheets. Antonio Felix da Costa and Pedro Nunes joined Hitech Racing and will be staying for the duration of the weekend. The GP3 Series runners are preparing for their visit to the famed Nurburgring circuit later this month for the fifth round of the series.
While this is da Costa’s début in a British Formula 3 car, the Portuguese pilot has had previous experience in Formula 3 Euroseries. Nunes took part in a single round of the 2009 British Formula 3 Series with the now departed Manor Motorsport.
Session 1 Pos Driver Team Time 1. Felipe Nasr Carlin-Volkswagen 2:10.081 2. Kevin Magnussen Carlin-Volkswagen 2:10.546 3. William Buller Fortec-Mercedes 2:11.489 4. Pipo Derani Double R-Mercedes 2:11.590 5. Antonio Felix da Costa Hitech-Volkswagen 2:11.605 6. Adderly Fong Sino Vision-Mercedes 2:11.638 7. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin-Volkswagen 2:11.742 8. Harry Tincknell Fortec-Mercedes 2:11.993 9. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 2:12.211 10. Carlos Huertas Carlin-Volkswagen 2:12.329 11. Pietro Fantin Hitech-Volkswagen 2:12.426 12. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen 2:12.598 13. Menasheh Idafar T Sport-Volkswagen 2:12.709 14. Lucas Foresti Fortec-Mercedes 2:13.011 15. Scott Pye Double R-Mercedes 2:13.129 16. Bart Hylkema T Sport-Mugen Honda 2:13.892 17. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision-Mercedes 2:14.374 18. Pedro Nunes Hitech-Volkswagen 2:14.772 19. Yann Cunha T Sport-Volkswagen 2:15.084 20. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec-Mercedes 2:15.161 21. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech-Mugen Honda 2:16.029 Session 2 Pos Driver Team Time 1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin-Volkswagen 1:53.965 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin-Volkswagen 1:54.025 3. Carlos Huertas Carlin-Volkswagen 1:54.166 4. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen 1:54.260 5. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin-Volkswagen 1:54.424 6. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision-Mercedes 1:54.642 7. Harry Tincknell Fortec-Mercedes 1:54.650 8. Scott Pye Double R-Mercedes 1:54.906 9. Pipo Derani Double R-Mercedes 1:54.908 10. Pietro Fantin Hitech-Volkswagen 1:54.953 11. William Buller Fortec-Mercedes 1:55.097 12. Antonio Felix da Costa Hitech-Volkswagen 1:55.182 13. Lucas Foresti Fortec-Mercedes 1:55.184 14. Pedro Nunes Hitech-Volkswagen 1:55.221 15. Adderly Fong Sino Vision-Mercedes 1:55.264 16. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 1:55.348 17. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec-Mercedes 1:55.857 18. Menasheh Idafar T Sport-Volkswagen 1:55.928 19. Yann Cunha T Sport-Volkswagen 1:56.075 20. Bart Hylkema T Sport-Mugen Honda 1:56.503 21. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech-Mugen Honda 1:57.956
