British F3 Qualifying Rounds 7 and 8

Flying Finn Claims Pole for Round 7

Raikkonen Robertson Racing's flying Finn Atte Mustonen claimed his first pole position in British F3, heading the times in qualifying for Round 7 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series at Snetterton.

Mustonen, who topped the times in the 3rd session of testing yesterday, finished six hundredths of a second ahead of Niall Breen (#22 Carlin Motorsport) and a further three hundredths faster than his Double R teammate Jonathan Kennard (#2 Raikkonen Robertson Racing).

Alberto Valerio (#22 Carlin Motorsport) with join Kennard on the second row, with Round 6 race winner Sam Bird (#3 Carlin Motorsport) heading up row three with championship leader Marko Asmer (#7 Hitech Racing) in 6th place. Championship contenders Maro Engel (#23 Carlin Motorsport) and Stephen Jelley (#1 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) will line up 7th and 8th respectively. Fortec Teammates Sebastian Hohenthal and Greg Mansell round out the top 10 for tomorrows round 7 grid.

Atte Mustonen: "I'm pleased with the result. I know Snetterton pretty well from Formula Renaults; I had a good position here last year, with a podium finish. It's pretty hot out on track and I like it, the grip is good in these kind of conditions."

In the National Class it was another pole position for Sergio Perez (#31 T Sport), who was one tenth of a second ahead of Michael Meadows (#55 Raikkonen Robertson Racing), with Hamad Al Fardan (#38 Performance Racing) claiming 3rd. National Class Championship leader Frankie Cheng could only manage 8th place on the grid.

Round 7 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series is due to start at 11:40 on Sunday 3rd June.

Round 7 Qualifying
1 – 26 – C – Atte MUSTONEN – FIN – 1:01.539
2 – 21 – C – Niall BREEN – IRL – +0.064s
3 – 2 – C – Jonathan KENNARD – GBR – +0.099s
4 – 22 – C – Alberto VALERIO – BRA – +0.117s
5 – 3 – C – Sam BIRD – GBR – +0.141s
6 – 7 – C – Marko ASMER – EST – +0.233s
7 – 23 – C – Maro ENGEL – GER – +0.255s
8 – 1 – C – Stephen JELLEY – GBR – +0.301s
9 – 5 – C – Sebastian HOHENTHAL – SWE – +0.322s
10 – 50 – C – Greg MANSELL – GBR – +0.334s
11 – 9 – C – Rodolfo GONZALEZ – VEN – +0.540s
12 – 4 – C – Mario MORAES – BRA – +0.668s
13 – 15 – C – Michael DEVANEY – IRL – +0.747s
14 – 12 – C – Sean PETTERSON – RSA – +0.882s
15 – 6 – C – Walter GRUBMULLER – AUT – +0.935s
16 – 24 – C – John MARTIN – AUS – +1.082s
17 – 61 – I – Max CHILTON – GBR – +1.134s
18 – 14 – C – Esteban GUERRIERI – ARG – +1.182s
19 – 44 – C – Leo MANSELL – GBR – +1.201s
20 – 10 – C – Ricardo TEIXEIRA – ANG – +1.253s
21 – 31 – N – Sergio PEREZ – MEX – +1.319s
22 – 8 – C – Francesco CASTELLACCI – ITA – +1.415s
23 – 55 – N – Michael MEADOWS – GBR – +1.416s
24 – 38 – N – Hamad AL FARDAN – BHR – +1.477s
25 – 35 – N – Alistair JACKSON – GBR – +1.492s
26 – 37 – N – Alex JENSEN – ISL – +1.551s
27 – 36 – N – Albert COSTA – ESP – +1.846s
28 – 77 – N – Salman AL KHALIFA – BHR – +1.919s
29 – 39 – N – CHENG Cong Fu – CHN – +2.073s
30 – 34 – N – Alex WATERS – GBR – +2.166s
31 – 33 – N – Juan Pablo SAMANO GARCIA – MEX – +2.454s

Normal Service Resumes as Asmer Tops Round 8 Qualifying

Championship leader Marko Asmer claimed his fourth pole position of the season with the fastest qualifying time of the weekend. Asmer, who could only manage to qualify in 6th for Round 7 this morning, found the extra pace in the Hitech Racing Dallara to finish the 30-minute session 0.079 ahead of Round 6 winner Sam Bird (#3 Carlin Motorsport).

Alberto Valerio (#22 Carlin Motorsport) saved his best for the last and crossed the line with the chequered flag waving to head row two ahead of Round 7 Pole Position holder Atte Mustonen (#26 Raikkonen Robertson Racing). Valerio's Carlin teammate Maro Engel (#23 Carlin Motorsport) was another driver to improve his time late in the session to finish at the head of row three with Sebastian Hohenthal (#5 Fortec Motorsport) finish in 6th after languishing further back for most the 30-minute qualifying period.

Marko Asmer: “"The weekend didn't start well for me, I caught a cold at the start of the week so I've been feeling really bad all week. We weren't very quick in practice and I think we knew that this weekend was going to the hardest of all because Snetterton is always close and the car didn't feel great like it has on other circuits. We didn't really change the car from first qualifying, I just knew I had to do a lap and we would be up there; which managed to do and the car felt good again."

Alistair Jackson (#35 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) claimed his second National Class pole of the year, just two thousandths of a second ahead of Sergio Perez (#31 T Sport). Hamad Al Fardan (#38 Performance Racing) was just 0.057 seconds adrift of Jackson's time and in turn was just 0.010s ahead of Mike Meadows.

Round 8 Qualifying
1 – 7 – C – Marko ASMER – 1:01.558
2 – 3 – C – Sam BIRD – +0.079s
3 – 22- C – Alberto VALERIO – +0.206s
4 – 26 – C – Atte MUSTONEN – +0.288s
5 – 23 – C – Maro ENGEL – +0.288s
6 – 5 – C – Sebastian HOHENTHAL – +0.344s
7 – 1 – C – Stephen JELLEY – +0.354s
8 – 9 – C – Rodolfo GONZALEZ – +0.483s
9 – 2 – C – Jonathan KENNARD – +0.511s
10 – 50 – C – Greg MANSELL – +0.567s
11 – 21 – C – Niall BREEN – +0.572s
12 – 15 – C – Michael DEVANEY – +0.728s
13 – 24 – C – John MARTIN – +0.768s
14 – 61 – I – Max CHILTON – +0.831s
15 – 6 – C – Walter GRUBMULLER – +0.884s
16 – 4 – C – Mario MORAES – +1.015s
17 – 14 – C – Esteban GUERRIERI – +1.117s
18 – 10 – C – Ricardo TEIXEIRA – +1.127s
19 – 12 – C – Sean PETTERSON – +1.197s
20 – 44 – C – Leo MANSELL – +1.319s
21 – 8 – C – Francesco CASTELLACCI – +1.511s
22 – 35 – N – Alistair JACKSON – +1.560s
23 – 31 – N – Sergio PEREZ – +1.562s
24 – 38 – N – Hamad AL FARDAN – +1.617s
25 – 55 – N – Michael MEADOWS – +1.627s
26 – 36 – N – Albert COSTA – +1.759s
27 – 77 – N – Salman AL KHALIFA – +1.919s
28 – 37 – N – Viktor JENSEN – +1.970s
29 – 39 – N – CHENG Cong Fu – +1.993s
30 – 33 – N – Juan Pablo SAMANO GARCIA – +2.028s
31 – 34 – N – Alex WATERS – +2.689s