Championship leader Felipe Nasr set the best time in this morning’s Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series qualifying session at Oulton Park, Carlin’s Brazilian pilot launching a successful last-gasp attack in the closing moments of the session.
Nasr took advantage of a red-flag pause in the session while the stricken car of his team-mate Rupert Svendsen-Cook was retrieved. With a handful of laps remaining to him, Felipe banged in a time of 1m 28.207s and then bettered that with a 1m 27.960s to secure top spot on the grid for Easter Monday’s 40-minute feature race.
Nasr’s countryman, the Fortec driver Lucas Foresti, was a late charger also, joining Felipe in displacing T-Sport’s Menasheh Idafar from what had looked a safe top spot. Foresti’s best time – 1m 27.965s – was a touch slower than Nasr’s best, but his second-fastest was quicker by a sliver than Felipe’s second-best, so Lucas will start this afternoon’s 30-minute event from the pole. Idafar held on to third spot for both races.
Said Nasr: “Before the break I was struggling, down in seventh or somewhere. So we set the car up for a final push and it paid off, but it was a tough, tough job.” His best lap was seven-tenths quicker than last year’s pole time, set by Jean-Eric Vergne.
Svendsen-Cook’s qualifying came to an end when he ran wide out of Old Hall on the grass and hit a bump which bent his suspension. He was not the only Carlin runner in trouble: Kevin Magnussen went off early on after setting the early pace, running wide at Cascades and going off. Svendsen-Cook ended the session fourth, Magnussen eighth.
Jazeman Jaafar recovered well from his Friday testing off to set fifth-best time, ahead of Foresti’s Fortec team-mate Will Buller. The leading driver new to the championship was Harry Tincknell, the Fortec man setting seventh-best time. T-Sport’s Bart Hylkema was the leading Rookie class finisher.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Provisional qualifying times, Oulton Park / 23/4/2011
Championship class
1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 27.960s
2 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 27.965s
3 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.244s
4 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.331s
5 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.382s
6 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.403s
7 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.417s
8 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.481s
9 Scott PYE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m 28.491s
10 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 28.503s etc
Rookie class
1 Bart HYLKEMA / NED, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 30.054s
2 Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN, Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 34.709s
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