2011 British F3 Rnd of Donington (Rd 9, Qualifying, Sept 24th)

Donington Park. (Public domain)

Felipe Nasr claimed both pole position for tomorrows British Formula 3 feature at Donington Park and the 2011 Sunoco Rolex 24 Prize.

Nasr’s lap of 1:23.012 was enough to give the Brazilian a 0.064s advantage over Carlin teammate Jack Harvey.

Earning the Sunoco Prize means Nasr has an automatic entry to next January’s Daytona 24 Hour Race – a key endurance race that opens the motor racing season.

Behind Nasr and Harvey headed another trio of Carlin pilots – Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Carlos Huertas and Kevin Magnussen made it an all Carlin top-five, with Pipo Derani taking a solid 6th in his Double R machine.

Newly crowned GP3 Champion Valtteri Bottas assumed 7th some four-tenths shy of Nasr. Jazeman Jaafar assumed the 8th starting position beside the Finn, with Fortec man William Buller shadowing the fourth row men. Scott Pye rounded out the top ten with a time identical to that of Buller.

Svendsen-Cook took pole for race one later today with a lap of 1:23.261. The Monza race winner edged Harvey to the top spot, with Magnussen and Huertas making an all-Carlin top four.
Pye broke the Carlin qualifying domination ahead of Nasr (6th) and Bottas (7th).

Qualifying was peppered with several offs, including off-track excursions for Menasheh Idafar, Fahmi Ilyas and Adderly Fong.
The session came to a halt with less than three minutes remaining, following a crash involving Kotaro Sakurai. The Rookie Class racer lost his Hitech machine at the Old Hairpin hitting the tyre barriers hard, forcing out the red flag.

2011 British F3 Rnd of Donington (Rd 9, Qualifying, Race 1)
 1. Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.261
 2. Jack Harvey           Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.357 
 3. Kevin Magnussen       Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.417 
 4. Carlos Huertas        Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.479
 5. Scott Pye             Double R-Mercedes     1:23.493
 6. Felipe Nasr           Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.495
 7. Valtteri Bottas       Double R-Mercedes     1:23.500
 8. Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.514
 9. Pipo Derani           Double R-Mercedes     1:23.547
10. William Buller        Fortec-Mercedes       1:23.577
11. Pietro Fantin         Hitech-Volkswagen     1:23.607
12. Lucas Foresti         Fortec-Mercedes       1:23.811
13. Max Snegirev          Hitech-Volkswagen     1:24.267
14. Harry Tincknell       Fortec-Mercedes       1:24.468
15. Yann Cunha            T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.494
16. Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.516 
17. Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision-Mercedes  1:24.587 
18. Bart Hylkema          T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.588 
19. Adderly Fong          Sino Vision-Mercedes  1:25.033
20. Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec-Mercedes       1:25.652
21. Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech-Mugen Honda    1:26.102

2011 British F3 Rnd of Donington (Rd 9, Qualifying, Race 3)
 6. Felipe Nasr           Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.012
 2. Jack Harvey           Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.076 
 1. Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.228
 4. Carlos Huertas        Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.323
 3. Kevin Magnussen       Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.348 
 9. Pipo Derani           Double R-Mercedes     1:23.395
 7. Valtteri Bottas       Double R-Mercedes     1:23.448
 8. Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin-Volkswagen     1:23.462
10. William Buller        Fortec-Mercedes       1:23.479
 5. Scott Pye             Double R-Mercedes     1:23.479
11. Pietro Fantin         Hitech-Volkswagen     1:23.560
12. Lucas Foresti         Fortec-Mercedes       1:23.804
13. Max Snegirev          Hitech-Volkswagen     1:24.169
16. Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.276 
15. Yann Cunha            T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.343
14. Harry Tincknell       Fortec-Mercedes       1:24.355
18. Bart Hylkema          T-Sport-Volkswagen    1:24.427 
17. Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision-Mercedes  1:24.473 
19. Adderly Fong          Sino Vision-Mercedes  1:24.597
20. Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec-Mercedes       1:25.213
21. Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech-Mugen Honda    1:25.910

2 thoughts on “2011 British F3 Rnd of Donington (Rd 9, Qualifying, Sept 24th)

  1. Interesting. Somebody gets to use the Sunoco Rolex 24 prize that I’ll actually have heard of. Of course, I’ve heard of him from reading your F3 updates all season, Leigh, but I think that’s a damn sight better than some guy in a Radical championship or some other lowly series showing up for one go at Daytona, who I’ll then never hear of again. Nasr appears to have a good, long career ahead, judging by his domination this year, so it’ll be nice to see a good, young guy get an extra high-profile race before moving on up the ladder.

    Oh, as always, thanks for your excellent coverage, Leigh.

    1. No problem mate. It’s been an absolute pleasure to cover Formula 3 this year and am hoping to be back doing it (and other things) in 2012.

      As for Nasr, he’s a good chap, bright and quite focussed. He will have tougher hurdles ahead of him admittedly, but few challenges in motor racing are as tough as the Daytona 24 Hours. I’ve been been impressed by his immersion in the series – no one dominates without digging deep and that is exactly what he did.
      It’s looking like he may be in World Series by Renault next year – probably one of the fiercest feeder formulae on the planet – and I’ll be watching his progress closely, as will many others.

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