Brit F3: Calado on top at Silverstone

James Calado topped the testing times at Silverstone today ahead of this weekend’s British F3 round.

The Carlin driver, currently two points adrift of second placed Oli Webb in the championship, was the only man to break the 100 seconds barrier around the Bridge Grand Prix layout.

His best of 1m39.760s came in the largely drier morning session and was sufficient to see off team mate Jean-Eric Vergne, who can clinch the title this weekend, by an impressive 0.771sec. The Frenchman did improve during the afternoon’s running but was still over two tenths adrift of Calado’s benchmark.

Raikkonen Robertson Racing filled the next two places with Felipe Nasr lapping in 1m 40.578s to beat Carlos Huertas by a paltry 0.017sec, while the Noah’s Ark feel continued in fifth and sixth, Webb edging out Fortec stablemate Daniel McKenzie by an even tighter margin of 0.011sec.

Gabriel Dias was the best of the Hitech runners in eighth, although his team mate Will Buller missed most of the second session after an earlier incident. There were problems too for Alex Brundle who crashed out of the afternoon running when the rain became heavier.

Menasheh Idafar was one of the few drivers to go quicker after lunch though, setting a best lap of 1m 41.865s before the worst of the damp conditions set in to outpace T-Sport team mate and National Class rival James Cole by three tenths.

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British F3 testing, Silverstone: Top ten times am/pm
1  James CALADO / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 39.760s / 1m 40.192s
2  Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 40.531s / 1m 40.436s
3  Felipe NASR / BRA,  RR Dallara-Mercedes  1m 40.578s / 1m 41.320s
4  Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  RR Dallara-Mercedes  1m 40.595s / 1m 41.371s
5  Oli WEBB / GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 40.662s / 1m 41.438s
6  Daniel McKENZIE / GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 40.673s / 1m 41.455s
7  Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 40.774s / 1m 42.165s
8  Gabriel DIAS / BRA,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 40.890s / 1m 41.786s
9  Adriano BUZAID / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 40.963s / 1m 41.161s
10  Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN,  RR Dallara-Mercedes  1m 41.229s / 1m 41.664s etc

Tom Hornsby