NEWS

3 AUGUST 2012: Alex Lynn underlined his superb test-session form with fastest time this afternoon at Snetterton in free practice ahead of the weekend’s rounds of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series.

The 18-year-old Fortec Motorsport driver was one of only four drivers this afternoon to improve their times from the sunny and dry morning session, Alex shaving 0.047s from Jack Harvey’s am session-topping time.

Harvey suffered technical problems this afternoon and was unable to match his previous best. “Session one was quite good,” said Racing Steps Foundation driver Jack. “In the second session we had a few issues; but then it wouldn’t be fun without a few of those… I didn’t do as many laps as I wanted, and you need to do plenty here to get the tyres working well. Everyone else went more or less the same speed and we went quite a lot slower, so we have some work to do.”

Harvey is bidding to claw back the championship lead this weekend from Fortec’s Felix Serralles, whose Spa successes last week promoted him to top spot with a four-point advantage. Serralles was sixth quickest today.

For Felix’ team-mate Lynn, setting the pace in pre-race testing has become common but he has yet to translate that into a pole position come qualifying. “Everything feels good,” said Alex. “We’ve been at this point a few times this season and still not converted it; I’ll try my best tomorrow and see if I can do it this time.”

Harvey’s Carlin team-mates took positions three to five today, with Harry Tincknell running Jack closest, ahead of Jazeman Jaafar and Carlos Sainz. The afternoon session started damp following a brief shower but the track quickly dried.

In the National class, Bolivian rookie Pedro Pablo Calbimonte repeated the promising form he displayed at Spa-Francorchamps to lead the way for T-Sport. His closest class rival was CF Racing’s Adderly Fong, who endured a troubled afternoon with a spin and then an engine failure which left oil on the track and caused the session to be terminated six minutes early.

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series

Official testing / Snetterton / 3 August 2012

Leading International class runners am/pm (faster time in bold)

1  Alex LYNN / GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1:41.815 / 1:41.753

2  Jack HARVEY / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1:41.800 / 1:42.356

3  Harry TINCKNELL / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1:41.809 / 1:42.642

4  Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1:42.014 / 1:41.942

5  Carlos SAINZ / ESP,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1:42.036 / 1:42.600

6  Felix SERRALLES / PUR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1:42.355 / 1:42.722

7  Pietro FANTIN / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1:42.469 / 1:42.458

8  Hannes VAN ASSELDONK / NED,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1:42.590 / 1:42.686

9  Nick McBRIDE / AUS,  T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  1:42.787 / 1:43.445

10  Pipo DERANI / BRA,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1:43.056 / 1:43.518

11  Fahmi ILYAS / MAS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1:43.173 / 1:45.227

12  Geoff UHRHANE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  1:43.468 / 1:43.485

National class

1  Pedro Pablo CALBIMONTE / BOL,  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda  1:44.488 / 1:45.235

2  Adderly FONG / CHI,  CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda 1:44.872 / 1:46.017

3  Spike GODDARD / AUS,  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda  1:45.056 / 1:45.660

4  Duvashen PADAYACHEE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mugen Honda 1:46.673 / 1:45.179

Full timesheets http://bit.ly/M5xzfh