Carlin twins Jean-Eric Vergne and Rupert Svendsen-Cook topped the timesheets in official testing for the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Silverstone yesterday. On a damp and occasionally drizzly day, no-one was able to get close to Max Chilton's 2009 pole position time of 1m 39.781s. Indeed Vergne, Svendsen-Cook and Fortec driver Oli Webb were the only drivers to break the 1m 41s barrier, Webb setting his top mark with the best time in the fourth and final session of the day.
Red Bull-backed French driver Vergne's best time was nearly half a second quicker than his British running mate could manage, with Webb two-tenths further behind. Menasheh Idafar was once again the quickest of the National Class runners in his T-Sport machine.
Among those enjoying their first runs with new teams today were Fortec's recent signing, Russian racer Max Snegirev; Indonesia's Rio Haryanto, in a CF Racing/Manor Motorsport car; and Brazilian Lucas Foresti, who started the pre-season with Hitech Racing but who appeared at the wheel of a Carlin Dallara today; Foresti ended his day 16th of the 19 International class runners, some way off the pace of his erstwhile team-mates.
There's further testing scheduled for Silverstone tomorrow morning ahead of the championship media launch. 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 testingSilverstone, Northants, 23 Mar 2010Leading International runners am / pm1 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 40.903s / 1m 40.198s2 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 41.410s / 1m 40.683s3 Oli WEBB / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 41.054s / 1m 40.858s4 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 42.051s / 1m 41.473s5 Hywel LLOYD / GBR, CF/Manor Dallara-Mercedes 1m 42.322s / 1m 41.484s6 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 42.257s / 1m 41.522s7 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 41.559s / 1m 41.728s8 Felipe NASR / BRA, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 41.964s / 1m 41.627s9 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 42.316s / 1m 41.840s10 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 42.890s / 1m 41.970s etcLeading National Class runners1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 42.117s / 1m 42.843s2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 43.900s / 1m 45.108s3 Kelvin SNOEKS / NED, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 44.236s / 1m 45.675s
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