Carlin's Jean-Eric Vergne was once again the quickest of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 testers, the Frenchman one of a handful of drivers to sneak beneath the unofficial lap record at Oulton Park yesterday.
The Cheshire circuit - venue for the championship's opening rounds at Easter (3-5 April) - provided a chilly but ever-quickening venue for the 21 drivers taking part today, with Vergne setting the best time of the day which, at 1m 27.444s, was 1.4s better than Max Chilton's 2008 pole position time. Jean-Eric was quickest last week also in the Rockingham official tests.
Raikkonen Robertson Racing's Carlos Huertas was on top in the morning session, and the Colombian improved his pace after lunch to 1m 27.797s to run Vergne closest. Brazilian Adriano Buzaid was third fastest overall. Knutsford's Oli Webb wound up fifth fastest on his home circuit, just behind the quickest of the Brits, Carlin's James Calado.
In the keenly fought National class, Menasheh Idafar was again the pace-setter; the London-based driver lapped in 1m 28.776s, a second quicker than his T-Sport team-mate James Cole, and was an impressive 10th fastest overall on the day.
Silverstone is the next venue for official pre-season F3 testing, with a day-and-half scheduled at the Northamptonshire circuit for 23/24 March. British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and Mirror.co.uk.
Cooper Tires British F3 official testingOulton Park, Cheshire, 10 Mar 2010
Leading International runners am / pm
1 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.537s / 1m 27.444s2 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.446s / 1m 27.797s3 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 29.267s / 1m 27.846s4 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.744s / 1m 28.376s5 Oli WEBB / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 29.110s / 1m 28.399s6 Felipe NASR / BRA, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 29.689s / 1m 28.510s7 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.586s / 1m 28.741s8 Hywel LLOYD / GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.729s / 1m 28.906s9 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 29.750s / 1m 28.742s10 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 30.580s / 1m 28.960setc
Leading National Class runners1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 29.923s / 1m 28.776s2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 31.017s / 1m 30.291s3 Alex JONES / GBR, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 31.580s / 1m 30.903s4 Max SNEGIREV / RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 35.324s / 1m 33.512s
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