British Formula 3 National Class driver, James Cole, concluded pre-season testing at Silverstone recently and is now preparing for the first round of the Cooper Tires British F3 Series to be held over the Easter weekend. After over 1500 testing miles, Cole is confident that he has the competitiveness to be winning in National Class.
The 21-year-old Merseysider first drove his T-Sport F3 car at Snetterton in February, followed by further testing at Rockingham at the beginning of March and a day at Cole’s home track, Oulton Park. The Silverstone test draws an end to pre-season track preparations and the focus now moves to the first race weekend of the thirty race championship.
Cole has graduated to F3 from the British Formula Ford Championship, taking the title crown at the penultimate round of this series last year. He says of his 2010 campaign, “After winning the Formula Ford championship it was a natural progression to F3. The cars are quite different though, so I’ve really needed the testing days to become acclimatised to the car, particularly the greater downforce and grip levels.
“The first day of testing was an eye-opener, spending time getting used to the amount of downforce I had. There was a bit of a fear factor moment, feeling that I was going to crash if I pushed harder but knowing that the car had the downforce to take the corners faster. I think it is heightened by coming straight from a Formula Ford car which has zero downforce and is always moving about. I’m appreciating the grip levels now, gaining the confidence to use them and understanding how to make the most of the downforce available to me.”
“After over six days in the car and working closely with my engineers I think I’ve been making good progress, but the real test is the race weekend and particularly the qualifying session. At that point I’ll have a better idea of where I am performance-wise and hopefully we’ll be the quickest National Class car, as well as knocking on the door of the top ten International Class cars. It’s not going to be easy as I have a very strong team mate and he’s going to be my biggest opposition in National Class. He’s usually been quicker than me in testing as he has had more experience of ‘winged’ cars, but it’s always different when you’re racing.”
The first round of the British F3 Series kicks off at Oulton Park circuit, Cheshire over the Easter weekend, with racing on Saturday 3 April and Monday 5 April.
