Just as he did at Rockingham in March, Brazil’s Felipe Nasr today led the way in official testing at the Northamptonshire speedway. The Carlin driver and Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series points leader ended the first of two days of Rockingham testing a little over a tenth of a second ahead of the pack.

The top five today set their best marks this morning; rain towards the end of the day ensured that Nasr’s top AM time, 1m 12.687s, went unbeaten. In the afternoon Felipe knocked up a 1m 13.000s lap before the heavens opened, a hundredth adrift of the best afternoon lap, which was set by his Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar.

Double Snetterton victor Kevin Magnussen was second quickest overall, a hundredth ahead of Hitech Racing’s Pietro Fantin, with Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Jaafar and Carlos Huertas making it five Carlin men in the top six. Fortec’s William Buller placed seventh, pipping Double R man Scott Pye to the honour of best Mercedes-powered runner. T-Sport’s Bart Hylkema continued his progress with a dominant Rookie class performance.

Though the rain meant that he did not get the chance to try his car on a full set of new Cooper slicks, top Brit Svendsen-Cook was pleased with his progress: “I’m very happy with the car and I feel confident we can go quicker still tomorrow. It seems the team has made quite a few steps forward during the break from racing.”

There were a couple of notable absentees: Riki Christodoulou’s Hitech seat was filled for the day by former Formula Ford racer Garry Findlay – Christo is expected back on duty again tomorrow – while 18-year-old student Jack Harvey had to sit an exam instead.

There is further official testing at Rockingham tomorrow in preparation for the 18/19 June Brands Hatch rounds of the championship.

British Formula 3 enjoys the headlining support of Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.

 

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series

Official testing, Rockingham / 7 June 2011

 

Leading runners am / pm

 

Championship class

1  Felipe NASR / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 12.687s / 1m 13.000s

2  Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 12.830s / 1m 13.431s

3  Pietro FANTIN / BRA,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 12.843s / 1m 13.623s

4  Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-VW  1m 12.857s / 1m 13.476s

5  Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 12.969s / 1m 12.987s

6  Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 14.431s / 1m 13.047s

7  William BULLER /GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 13.715s / 1m 13.085s

8  Scott PYE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1m 13.184s / 1m 13.500s

9  Lucas FORESTI / BRA,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 13.874s / 1m 13.238s

10  Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR,  T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 13.293s / 1m 14.053s etc

 

Rookie class