Alex Lynn stole the show at Rockingham yesterday afternoon in final Cooper Tires British Formula 3 testing ahead of the weekend’s championship races, the Fortec driver beating the field by a seven-tenth margin.
The Essex 18-year-old professed himself pleased with his and the team’s efforts at the damp and blustery Northamptonshire speedway, which echoed his session-topping performance in testing there in dry conditions last month.
“The car was working really well and I’m pretty happy,” said Alex. “But, as always, I just have to do it again tomorrow. We’ve put in quite a bit of preparation for this event. Today we were quick, hopefully we can do it again. Hopefully we can be quick if it’s dry, and we certainly seem quick enough in the wet. Whatever the weather throws at us I think we all feel pretty well prepared - not just me but the whole team.”
Alex turned on the pace in the third and final session of the day, and was the only man under the 97-second mark around the 2.05-mile ‘Sportscar Long’ circuit configuration. His closest rival was Carlin’s Brazilian pilot Pietro Fantin, who was 0.729s adrift of the Brit’s pace. Hannes van Asseldonk and Felix Serralles were third and fourth fastest overall to underline the pace of the Mercedes-powered Fortec squad.
Championship leader Carlos Sainz (Carlin) was quickest by a half-second margin in the first session of the day from Fortec’s Pipo Derani, but the Spaniard did not improve his pace thereafter and wound up fifth on the day. Dutch driver van Asseldonk topped session two, a tenth ahead of Sainz.
T-Sport’s Nissan-powered driver Nick McBride continued his progress, breaking into the top nine overall, just ahead of Malaysian Jazeman Jaafar for Carlin.
T-Sport’s National class runner, Australian Spike Goddard, was quicker than his class rival Duvashen Padayachee (Double R) throughout the day’s running.
Tomorrow’s official qualifying is at 1045, with the first of the weekend’s races scheduled for 1515.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesOfficial testing / Rockingham / 8 June 2012
Leading International class runners am/pm (faster time in bold)1 Alex LYNN / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 39.336s / 1m 36.935s2 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.238s / 1m 37.664s3 Hannes VAN ASSELDONK / NED, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 38.895s / 1m 38.021s4 Felix SERRALLES / PUR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 40.905s / 1m 38.061s5 Carlos SAINZ / ESP, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 38.193s / 1m 38.959s6 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.231s / 1m 38.641s7 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.239s / 1m 38.711s8 Pipo DERANI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 38.770s / 1m 38.841s9 Nick McBRIDE / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m 39.940s / 1m 38.876s10 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 39.187s / 1m 38.906s11 Geoff UHRHANE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 41.124s / 1m 40.371s12 Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 40.652s / 1m 40.450s
National class1 Spike GODDARD / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 44.984s / 1m 42.090s2 Duvashen PADAYACHEE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mugen 1m 45.628s / 1m 42.184s
Full timesheets http://bit.ly/Kln9lF
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