DONINGTON PARK 24 SEPTEMBER 2011: The prizes are coming thick and fast now for Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Champion Felipe Nasr, who this morning bagged pole position for tomorrow’s 27th round at Donington Park, and with it a prize drive in the fabled Daytona 24 Hours.

A pole position was what the Brazilian needed to scoop the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge and Felipe duly delivered with a timesheet-topping lap of the 2.5-mile Grand Prix circuit of 1m 23.012s, just six-hundredths of a second ahead of his closest rival and Carlin team-mate Jack Harvey.

Nasr’s prize is a seat in a Daytona prototype for the January event in Florida. Said Felipe: “It’s very special, I am a big fan of US racing. I have never driven anything like one of the prototypes; it will be interesting and a great opportunity to get to know the people and how it all works, and the track of course, a great experience.”

Nasr’s second-best time will see him line up sixth this afternoon. “A shame we got too many yellow flags at the end of the session because it meant I didn’t get a good second-lap time, but pole for one of them is very good at least.”

The Carlin team bagged both pole positions up for grabs at Donington – Rupert Svendsen-Cook’s second-quickest time secured him top spot for this afternoon’s race, round 25. Rupert was third quickest in the overall scheme of things, behind team-mates Nasr and Harvey.

Double R was another team to show well in qualifying, all three of their Mercedes-powered men scoring top-10 placings. Pipo Derani shone to claim sixth spot, just ahead of Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas, with Scott Pye 10th.

British F3 Rookie Champion elect, Kotaro Sakurai, ended his session in the barriers at the Old Hairpin. Fahmi Ilyas and Adderly Fong also suffered offs.

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

Provisional qualifying times, Donington Park GP / 24/9/2011

 

Championship class

1  Felipe NASR / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.012s

2  Jack HARVEY / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.076s

3  Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.228s

4  Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.323s

5  Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.348s

6  Pipo DERANI / BRA,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1m 23.395s

7  Valtteri BOTTAS / FIN,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1m 23.448s

8  Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.462s

9  William BULLER /GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 23.479s

10  Scott PYE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1m 23.479s etc

 

Rookie class

1  Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN,  Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda  1m 25.910s

 

Full TSL timesheets http://bit.ly/pO5G5O


Article Written By Nick Carter on 24th Sep 2011