Cooper Tires British F3 International Series points leader Jean-Eric Vergne underlined his recent run of good form yesterday (Tuesday) at Snetterton, venue for the latest official championship test. Vergne was the only driver in the field to break the 72-second mark for lap of the Norfolk circuit, and the Frenchman did it in two of the three sessions.
Vergne’s best for the Carlin team was 1m 01.935s, just four-hundredths shy of the Snetterton lap record set by Marcus Ericsson in 2008. Hitech’s Gabriel Dias was second fastest, seven-hundredths adrift. The leading Mercedes runner was Daisuke Nakajima in seventh; his Raikkonen Robertson team spent much of the day concentrating on aerodynamic work rather than going for top lap times. Nonetheless, the Japanese driver matched the time he set at Snetterton in February.
Menasheh Idafar was the quicker of the two T-Sport National Class runners.
The British F3 teams are now heading for Belgium for the 30/31 July Spa-Francorchamps rounds of the championship.
Cooper Tires British F3 official testingSnetterton, Norfolk, 20 July 2010
Leading International Class times am/pm1 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 01.938s / 1m 01.935s2 Gabriel DIAS / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.033s / 1m 02.002s3 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.031s / 1m 02.007s4 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.331s / 1m 02.047s5 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.089s / 1m 02.226s6 Daniel McKENZIE / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 02.571s / 1m 02.092s7 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 03.007s / 1m 02.101s8 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.113s / 1m 02.975s9 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.475s / 1m 02.161s10 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.632s / 1m 02.201s etc
Leading National Class times am/pm1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 02.893s / 1m 02.443s2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 02.764s / 1m 02.602s
British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and by Mirror.co.uk.
