Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series 'Rookie Class' points leader Bart Hylkema enjoyed a highly competitive couple of days at Rockingham in Northamptonshire this week, the 21-year-old Dutchman once again leading the way convincingly during officially timed testing.
On Tuesday, 8th June, the T-Sport driver began the two-day run impressively in the opening session by setting the 14th fastest time overall with a lap of 1m14.885 seconds (93.26mph) - placing him ahead of three 'Championship Class' cars. Marginally improving his time in the second session to 1m14.816 seconds (93.34mph) and running almost identical pace in the first of the afternoon runs, Bart maintained his incredibly comfortable 1.7 second gap in the Rookie Class and ended day one at the 1.94-mile track 17th fastest overall.
Four more sessions awaited the competitors on Wednesday, 8th June, and the first year F3 racer posted his best effort of the day during the first run - a lap of 1m14.182 seconds (94.14mph) placing him only 1.5 seconds shy of the fastest Championship Class car.
"We've had two good days of testing at Rockingham", said Bart, "We tried a lot of setups on the car and improved a lot throughout the test. I'm very pleased with the work we completed."
Brands Hatch GP challenge just over a week away...Bart's focus now is the fourth event of his maiden F3 season, rounds 10, 11 and 12 at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit next weekend, 18th/19th June.
Yet again a UK track that he has never raced on before, Bart is greatly looking forward to the challenge and aiming to take a clean-sweep of wins. So far this season, the talented racer from Delft in The Netherlands has been in a class of his own by taking Rookie Class victory in eight of the nine races contested.
The only blemish on his tremendous record is a non-finish during round eight at Snetterton 300 Circuit - Bart an innocent party in a multi car tangle on the opening lap of the race.
Arriving at Brands Hatch next weekend with a fantastic 58 point lead in the standings, his first goal is to enjoy continued success in the Rookie Class and extend his tremendous advantage. The greater challenge for Bart is to get in among the quicker and more advanced Championship Class cars in race conditions, something he is getting closer and closer to achieving as the season progresses.
"I'm looking forward very much to Brands Hatch next week", he said, "Although I've never raced there before, I've been told it's one of the UK's best tracks. It's supposed to be very fast and flowing so I can't wait to get there next weekend."
Official pre-event testing will take place at Brands Hatch next Friday, 17th June, ahead of qualifying and round 10 of the championship at 10.45 and 14.45 on Saturday, 18th June. Rounds 11 and 12 will follow on Sunday, 19th June, at 11.20 and 14.10.
Television highlights of the action will be screened on the Motors TV network throughout Europe - please visit motorstv.com for details.
Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series 'Rookie Class' Standings (after Rd9):1st Bart Hylkema, 130pts
