Kevin Magnussen continued his run of pace during practice for this weekend’s British Formula 3 meeting at Spa-Francorchamps.
Although lacking luck in recent rounds, the Dane has showcased speed on numerous occasions; however several mechanical problems and accidents have marred his results sheet.
The Carlin pilot finished atop of the timesheets yesterday, holding a seven-tenths advantage over teammate Felipe Nasr.
On what started out damp, dried throughout the morning running, with Magnussen’s best of 2:14.299 remaining the quickest lap of the entire day.
Several drivers from the Formula 3 Euroseries will also be taking this weekend as part of the FIA F3 International Trophy.
Indeed F3 Euroseries leader Robert Mehri proved to be the quickest of these, coming just seven-thousandths shy of Nasr in the final timings.
Mehri – along with Raffaele Marciello, Laurens Vanthoor, Carlos Munoz, Marco Wittmann, Hannes van Asseldonk and former British F3 champion Marco Asmer amongst others – will expand the field to twenty-nine cars at Spa.
British F3 regulars Jazeman Jaafar and Carlos Huertas are the sole drivers from the series that also run in the International Trophy.
A rain affected afternoon session slowed times dramatically. Roberto Mehri was quickest by some margin over fellow Invitational drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Hannes van Asseldonk.
Mehri’s quickest tour of 2:40.491 gave the Spaniard a one-and-a-half second advantage over Vanthoor, with van Asseldonk over three seconds adrift of the Spaniard.
Kevin Magnussen headed the British F3 contingent with a best of 2:43.925; however such were dreadful conditions around the famed circuit, the times can be viewed as largely irrelevant.
T-Sport’s Yann Cunha came close to the bottom of the time sheets, summing up both his week and his season thus far. The Brazilian was fined £1,000 and docked 40 points for breaking rules regarding Championship participation earlier this season.
According to Formula 3 regulations, “competitors and teams / entrants registered for the series are free to take part in other F3 race meetings, except at circuits (or part of one) that are listed on the 2011 series calendar.”
Cunha raced a European F3 Open event at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year.
Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.299s 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.942s + 0.643s 3. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc 2m14.949s + 0.650s 4. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 2m15.264s + 0.965s 5. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 2m15.438s + 1.139s 6. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 2m15.443s + 1.144s 7. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 2m15.517s + 1.218s 8. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 2m15.916s + 1.617s 9. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW 2m15.924s + 1.625s 10. Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW 2m15.938s + 1.639s 11. Marko Asmer Double R Dallara-Merc 2m15.938s + 1.639s 12. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 2m16.016s + 1.717s 13. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW 2m16.184s + 1.885s 14. Hannes van Asseldonk Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 2m16.399s + 2.100s 15. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m16.431s + 2.132s 16. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m16.442s + 2.143s 17. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 2m16.776s + 2.477s 18. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW 2m16.915s + 2.616s 19. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m16.992s + 2.693s 20. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m17.103s + 2.804s 21. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m17.279s + 2.980s 22. Luis Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 2m17.339s + 3.040s 23. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m17.595s + 3.296s 24. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m17.604s + 3.305s 25. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m17.946s + 3.647s 26. Fahmi Ilyas Forr Dallara-Merc 2m18.457s + 4.158s 27. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 2m18.615s + 4.316s 28. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 2m19.358s + 5.059s
