Jazeman Jaafar set a blistering pace in the blistering temperatures of Pau yesterday afternoon, the Malaysian Carlin driver more than a tenth of a second quicker than his closest rival in free practice ahead of the Pau Grand Prix, the third meeting of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series season.
Jaafar turned on the pace right from the start of this afternoon’s second session, the 19-year-old the first man to break the 1m 12s barrier around the 2.7km street track, with a 1m 11.784s lap. Only two other drivers - Carlos Sainz for Carlin and Fortec’s Alex Lynn - achieved sub-72s laps. Jack Harvey was fourth quickest for Carlin.
“I just put the sectors together,” said Jazeman. “I was lucky there was no traffic - you can only really do one lap here. The whole build-up to the weekend has been good, the team has prepared well and my team-mates and I are all working well together.”
Third-place man Lynn suffered a disappointing end to his session, lightly clouting the barriers at Beaumont. “The car felt really nice on the first set of tyres; the biggest problem for us was the traffic. Towards the end of the session there was a yellow flashing light and it distracted me; I touched the brakes and just lost the back end. just one of those things when you just lose concentration for a split second and it bites you. Luckily there was not much damage.”
Another driver in the wars was Harry Tincknell, whose off at the Beaumont chicane knocked a front wheel off his Carlin car. Said Harry: “It all happened a bit quick. I maybe carried a bit too much speed into the corner and clipped the outside kerb and brushed the wall lightly. I think I was in the top three before that. The car felt really good.” This morning’s testing pacesetter for the Prema team, Spain’s Daniel Juncadella, crashed also.
Brazil’s Pietro Fantin, who missed the morning’s session with gearbox problems and with it valuable circuit-learning time, finished the second session in 16th place.
Double R’s Duvashen Padayachee was the quicker of the two National class men, three-tenths ahead of his fellow Aussie Spike Goddard. Today was Goddard’s first serious test since he underwent surgery a fortnight ago for appendicitis; he reported that he was feeling fine.
Today’s official qualifying session starts at 0825 UK time and the first of the Grand Prix de Pau’s two British Formula 3 races is at 1325, carried live on Motors TV.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesFree Practice / Pau (FRA) / 11 May 2012
Leading International & *FIA class runners (am/pm - fastest time in bold)1 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-VW 1m 12.889s / 1m 11.784s2 Carlos SAINZ / ESP, Carlin Dallara-VW 1m 13.088s / 1m 11.926s3 Alex LYNN / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.102s / 1m 11.966s4 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-VW 1m 12.860s / 1m 12.095s5 *Felix ROSENQVIST / SWE, Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.187s / 1m 12.105s6 *Pascal WEHRLEIN / GER, Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.429s / 1m 12.194s7 *Raffaele MARCIELLO / ITA, Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.206s / 1m 12.341s8 *Daniel JUNCADELLA / ESP, Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m 12.617s / 1m 12.427s9 Hannes VAN ASSELDONK / NED, Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m 13.775s / 1m 12.689s10 Felix SERRALLES / PUR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.942s / 1m 12.697s11 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Carlin Dallara-VW 1m 13.518s / 1m 12.917s12 *Sven MULLER / GER, Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m 14.382s / 1m 12.941s13 Pipo DERANI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.932s / 1m 13.040s14 Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 15.391s / 1m 13.141s15 *Michael LEWIS / USA, Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m 13.937s / 1m 13.142s etc
National class1 Duvashen PADAYACHEE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mugen 1m 17.540s / 1m 15.280s2 Spike GODDARD / 1m AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 15.575s / 1m 15.820s
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