2011 British F3 Rnd of Donington (Rd 9, Practice, Sept 22nd)

Donington Park. (Public domain)

Jazeman Jaafar led a Carlin 1-2-3-4-5 in practice for the next British Formula 3 round at Donington on Thursday.

The Malaysian left it late to make his ultimate move – his best of 1:22.846 was enough to pip Rupert Svendsen-Cook to the top by a mere 0.032 of-a-second.

Both Jaafar and Svendsen-Cook find themselves in a tough battle for the runner-up spot in the series; however the pair were trailed by the man who currently holds that position – Kevin Magnussen.

Magnussen jumped into that position thanks to a victory at the last round at Rockingham and the Dane will be looking to solidify that position this weekend. A quickest lap of 1:22.984 placed Magnussen ahead of teammates Jack Harvey (4th) and Felipe Nasr (5th) as the flag fell for the final time in the afternoon.

Will Buller – another candidate for series vice-champion – finished the day’s practice in 6th position, nearly half-a-second shy of the ultimate pace. The Fortec man proved to be the quickest of the Mercedes-powered drivers and a solid three-tenths clear of British F3 guest pilot, Valtteri Bottas.
An off-track excursion into the gravel for Bottas at the end of the morning was unable to deter new GP3 Champion. The Double R Racing set the quickest time in the opening session; however he would fall to 7th in the standings as the afternoon drew on, despite shaving a tenth off his earlier pace.

Carlin’s Carlos Huertas assumed 8th position, although the Colombian proved to be only 0.001 of-a-second quicker than Fortec rookie Harry Tincknell – both of whom narrowly edged Pipo Derani toward the tail of the top ten.

Pietro Fantin (Hitech Racing) and Scott Pye (Double R) – both of whom picked up their first British F3 wins in Rockingham – completed the practice in 11th and 12th respectively.
T-Sport’s Menasheh Idafar was the first of the runner’s more than one second off of Jaafar’s pace. The Bahraini driver ended the day 13th, one-tenth ahead of the out of form Lucas Foresti.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
 1.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m22.846s            
 2.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin Dallara-VW         1m22.878s  + 0.032s  
 3.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin Dallara-VW         1m22.984s  + 0.106s  
 4.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m23.083s  + 0.237s  
 5.  Felipe Nasr           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m23.204s  + 0.358s  
 6.  Will Buller           Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m23.316s  + 0.470s  
 7.  Valtteri Bottas       Double R Dallara-Merc     1m23.598s  + 0.752s  
 8.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m23.731s  + 0.885s  
 9.  Harry Tincknell       Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m23.732s  + 0.886s  
10.  Pipo Derani           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m23.757s  + 0.911s  
11.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech Dallara-VW         1m23.778s  + 0.932s  
12.  Scott Pye             Double R Dallara-Merc     1m23.828s  + 0.982s  
13.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m24.062s  + 1.216s  
14.  Lucas Foresti         Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m24.243s  + 1.397s  
15.  Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m24.308s  + 1.462s  
16.  Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m24.596s  + 1.750s  
17.  Yann Cunha            T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m24.601s  + 1.755s  
18.  Adderley Fong         Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m24.811s  + 1.965s  
19.  Max Snegirev          Hitech Dallara-VW         1m25.034s  + 2.188s  
20.  Bart Hylkema          T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m25.138s  + 2.292s  
21.  Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech Dallara-Mugen      1m25.941s  + 3.095s

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