“Confidence grows prior to FIA F3 qualifying at Silverstone”

© FIA.
© FIA.

And then it was wet – again, although at Silverstone there is a touch of inevitability about clouds closing.

By the time second practice had finished, the once threatening clouds had already settled much of their contents.

Filtering through Stowe, the wet-tyre shod Dallara’s tiptoed between the white lines, careful not to draw upon the green patches on the exit of some of the turns.

A few were not as careful though – the sound of wheels spinning, as rear ends fought for control were a touch common; however there was little in the way of malicious damage.

With such little testing now, others were just glad for the time in the car – Carlin’s Jordan King is one such example: “It’s a steep learning curve for me; I’d never driven here much. We’re not doing too bad of a job at the moment, so from that side of things, I think we’re doing OK.”

The 19-year-old finished runner-up in the Formula Renault NEC Series in 2012 and considering his relative lack of testing, the Carlin driver has acquitted himself very well. “In the winter, I only got about seven days worth of testing and pre-season testing, there was only two days, so on that side it was really condensed,” said King.
King added, “There’s the downforce, the tyres, the seating position is different and the gears – everything about it is all different, so you just have to get yourself settled, so you are not learning the car every time you go out.”

One of King’s Fortec rivals, Josh Hill, is focussing on the tyres too. “Previously, I had just used Michelin’s in the Renault championships, where as these [Hankook’s] last much longer and even when they peak, the drop off is very gradual. It may be all late laps that decides the grid.”

Apart from a few scattered Formula Two rounds in 2011, King has generally raced less powerful machinery, with much smaller downforce numbers. His fitness programme has needed to adapt, but the comments that conditions have yet to present him with a truly difficult physical drive.
“We’ve had Monza, which is very low downforce and it’s been wet, so you don’t the g-forces much, but in testing I was OK with the strength side of things, so I have never really had a problem with that.”

Come the end of second free practice, 28 drivers were pounding around the Northamptonshire / Buckinghamshire circuit, allowing the tarmac an opportunity to dry.
Times toppled with each tour, leaving a final running order that may not necessarily reflect the true nature of the order.

 2013 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 2, Free Practice combined, April 12th)
Pos  Driver               Team/Car                    Time       Gap
 1.  Felix Rosenqvist     Mucke Dallara-Merc          2m10.632s
 2.  Antonio Giovinazzi   Double R Dallara-Merc       2m10.722s  + 0.090s
 3.  Michael Lewis        Mucke Dallara-Merc          2m10.796s  + 0.164s
 4.  Harry Tincknell	 Carlin Dallara-VW            2m11.001s  + 0.369s
 5.  Raffaele Marciello   Prema Dallara-Merc          2m11.162s  + 0.530s
 6.  Jordan King          Carlin Dallara-VW           2m11.259s  + 0.627s
 7.  Eddie Cheever        Prema Dallara-Merc          2m11.295s  + 0.663s
 8.  Sven Muller          Ma-con Dallara-VW           2m11.417s  + 0.785s
 9.  Pipo Derani          Fortec Dallara-Merc         2m11.678s  + 1.046s
10.  Josh Hill	          Fortec Dallara-Merc         2m11.753s  + 1.121s
11.  Jann Mardenborough   Carlin Dallara-VW           2m11.957s  + 1.335s
12.  Mans Grenhagen       Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW   2m12.004s  + 1.372s
13.  Lucas Wolf       	  URD Dallara-Merc            2m12.054s  + 1.422s
14.  Tom Blomqvist        EuroIntern'l Dallara-Merc   2m12.071s  + 1.439s
15.  Felix Serralles	  Fortec Dallara-Merc         2m12.206s  + 1.574s
16.  Lucas Auer           Prema Dallara-Merc          2m12.225s  + 1.623s
17.  Nicholas Latifi	  Carlin Dallara-VW           2m12.272s  + 1.640s
18.  Mitchell Gilbert     Mucke Dallara-Merc          2m12.433s  + 1.801s
19.  Alex Lynn            Prema Dallara-Merc          2m12.577s  + 1.945s
20.  Roy Nissany          Mucke Dallara-Merc          2m12.765s  + 2.133s
21.  Dennis van de Laar   Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW   2m12.857s  + 2.225s
22.  Andre Rudersdorf     Ma-con Dallara-VW           2m13.466s  + 2.834s
23.  Sean Gelael	  Double R Dallara-Merc       2m14.310s  + 3.678s
24.  Will Buller          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan      2m14.455s  + 3.823s
25.  Gary Thompson    	  Ferraris Dallara-Merc       2m15.275s  + 4.643s
26.  Tatiana Calderon	  Double R Dallara-Merc       2m15.956s  + 5.324s
27.  Spike Goddard        T-Sport Dallara-Nissan      2m16.180s  + 5.548s
28.  Sandro Zeller    	  Zeller Dallara-Merc         2m17.554s  + 6.922s

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