Felipe faster still as Rockingham tests conclude

Felipe Nasr continued his sterling efforts at the sharp end of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series field in the second day of official testing at the Rockingham circuit. Having set top time yesterday – 1m 10.953s – the 18-year-old Brazilian today shaved a further three-tenths from his best to end the two days on 1m 10.586s, which is a second and a half inside last year’s Rockingham pole time.

Today was a generally quicker day at the Northamptonshire speedway, with six of Nasr’s rivals joining him in setting laps under the 1m 11s mark. His closest competitor today was another of his Carlin team-mates, Danish championship newcomer Kevin Magnussen, who was 0.146s adrift. The others in the super-quick club were fellow Carlin runners Carlos Huertas, Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jazeman Jaafar, plus Hitech men Pietro Fantin, who went fifth fastest to split the Carlin formation, and Riki Christodoulou.

Young Brits Jack Harvey and Harry Tincknell were the first of the F3 debutants in eighth and ninth positions respectively, with Tincknell outpacing his Fortec team-mate Will Buller for the honour of top Mercedes-powered runner.

The championship testing regime continues next week at Silverstone on Tuesday and Wednesday; the championship’s opening races take place at Monza, Italy, in mid-April.

Leading runners Tuesday / Wednesday

1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.953s / 1m 10.586s
2 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.528s / 1m 10.732s
3 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.994s / 1m 10.792s
4 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.110s / 1m 10.838s
5 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.772s / 1m 10.925s
6 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.121s / 1m 10.954s
7 Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.530s / 1m 10.984s
8 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.358s / 1m 11.261s
9 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 11.904s / 1m 11.507s
10 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 12.084s / 1m 11.554s etc