This weekend sees the Carlin team back in action at Donington Park for rounds 25, 26 and 27 of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula Three Championship. Carlin’s Felipe Nasr secured the 2011 title last time out at Rockingham so heads into his fist race weekend as the newly crowned champion. The battle for second position however is still up for grabs with team mate Kevin Magnussen currently holding on after a strong weekend in Rockingham in which he won the final race of the weekend. 

 

Rockingham was a successful weekend for all six Carlin drivers with Nasr, Magnussen, Carlos Huertas, Jazeman Jaafar, Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jack Harvey all scoring good points throughout the races. Although the changeable weather did make qualifying a bit tricky the Carlin men were consistently setting fast sector times and putting in solid laps. 

 

The final race of the weekend saw Magnussen take the win which elevated him up to second in the championship. The battle for second and third position overall is certainly one to watch with very few points separating a number of drivers – Carlin’s Magnussen, Huertas, Jaafar and Svendsen-Cook will all be fighting over these positions as they head to Donington this weekend. 

 

Donington did not feature on last year’s calendar and as a result is a track which is fairly unknown to many drivers. The 2.5 mile circuit features some high speed sectors and has seen MotoGP, World Touring Cars and Formula One races over the years. 

 

Newly crowned British F3 champion Nasr said, “In some ways I’m looking forward even more to the last two events of the season, as I don’t have the pressure of the championship on my shoulders.  It will be nice to have some fun and enjoy the racing and just push hard to finish the season on a high.  Even though I’ve already won the title, I want to end the season in style with some more race wins”

 

Having won last time out and moving to second in the championship Magnussen is looking ahead to this weekend, “I’m feeling confident heading into this weekend. I’m lying second in the championship and I’m really going to go for it with everything I’ve got.

 

“I’ve tested here before and I really like the track, I think it suits me well so I’m looking forward to the racing this weekend.”

 

In a departure from the normal British F3 schedule, practice will take place on Thursday, with Friday a free day on the schedule.  Qualifying and race one on Saturday and race two and race three on Sunday.

Text by Carlin Media.