In what was the cars first serious test run of the year, Watts headed 22 Dallara’s with a best time of 1m28.014s, 0.373 seconds tenths faster on the second day than his nearest rival, James Rossiter. Over the two days the Lola-Dome was just over a tenth of a second quicker than recent pace setter Fairuz Fauzy.
It was the second time within a week that the Anglo/Japanese chassis has proved to be fastest in a test session after Joao Paulo De Oliveira came out on top during testing at Suzuka in readiness for the Japanese F3 series last weekend.
After a successful shakedown for Watts at Silverstone last Friday, Lola engineers and the Promatecme team, led by Chris Weller, headed to Oulton Park to try new development parts on the F106/04. These included a new specification front wing and a new bodywork package.
Watts immediately got down to some fast times on Tuesday morning despite using just one set of new tyres and still familiarising himself with the car. With conditions generally slower in the afternoon, Danny ended the day with 4th fastest time.
Day 2 saw the highly rated Watts consolidating and making in-roads in to the top three, eventually climaxing in that fastest time overall and delighting the 24 year old, who said this about his first competitive test in the Lola-Dome;
“It was all very positive, easy and predictable. The car was absolutely fantastic in the high-speed corners in particular. It was also super responsive to all the changes that we made. We were very strong throughout the test and when we put a set of new tyres on it felt like it was on rails out there and I was able to find big chunks of time right up until the end. I must say that aerodynamically it is a very impressive chassis to drive.”
Lola’s F3 project engineer, Adam Airey, was also pleased with progress made and commented; “It was an extremely positive test for us. We learnt about the new parts that we have developed over the winter and we really tapped in to the huge potential that we know is within the car. We still have more time to come that’s for sure and there are still a lot of things yet for us to try.”
Attention shortly turns to the start of the racing season as the F106/04 makes its 2004 race debut in the Far East later this month in the hands of Dome Mugen and Now Motorsports in the Japanese Championship. The car will also feature in European competition with three chassis to be raced by Coloni Motorsport in the Euro series. Enzo and Paulo Coloni’s team claimed 3 wins with the car during a successful campaign last season and will be looking for more success with 2003 Italian series runner-up, Christian Montanari when the first race kicks off at Hockenheim on April 18.
OULTON PARK F3 TEST – COMBINED TIMES 9/10 MARCH
1. Danny Watts Lola-Dome Mugen 1m28.014s2. Fairuz Fauzy Dallara Opel 1m28.130s3. Danilo Dirani Dallara Mugen 1m28.349s4. James Rossiter Dallara Opel 1m28.387s5. Alvaro Parente Dallara Mugen 1m28.561s6. Clivio Piccione Dallara Mugen 1m28.654s7. Marko Asmer Dallara Renault 1m28.668s8. Lucas Di Grassi Dallara Mugen 1m28.832s9. Will Davison Dallara Mugen 1m28.585s10. Nelsinho Piquet Dallara Mugen 1m28.864s
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