Vergne tops Snetterton test

Cooper Tires British F3 International Series points leader Jean-Eric Vergne underlined his recent run of good form today (Tuesday) at Snetterton, venue for the latest official championship test. Vergne was the only driver in the field to break the 72-second mark for lap of the Norfolk circuit, and the Frenchman did it in two of the three sessions.

Vergne’s best for the Carlin team was 1m 01.935s, just four-hundredths shy of the Snetterton lap record set by Marcus Ericsson in 2008. Hitech’s Gabriel Dias was second fastest, seven-hundredths adrift. The leading Mercedes runner was Daisuke Nakajima in seventh; his Raikkonen Robertson team spent much of the day concentrating on aerodynamic work rather than going for top lap times. Nonetheless, the Japanese driver matched the time he set at Snetterton in February.

Menasheh Idafar was the quicker of the two T-Sport National Class runners.

The British F3 teams are now heading for Belgium for the 30/31 July Spa-Francorchamps rounds of the championship.

Results

Leading International Class times am/pm
1 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 01.938s / 1m 01.935s
2 Gabriel DIAS / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.033s / 1m 02.002s
3 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.031s / 1m 02.007s
4 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.331s / 1m 02.047s
5 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.089s / 1m 02.226s
6 Daniel McKENZIE / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 02.571s / 1m 02.092s
7 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes 1m 03.007s / 1m 02.101s
8 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.113s / 1m 02.975s
9 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.475s / 1m 02.161s
10 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 02.632s / 1m 02.201s etc

Leading National Class times am/pm
1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 02.893s / 1m 02.443s
2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 02.764s / 1m 02.602s