Brit F3: Vergne on top at Snetterton

Jean Eric Vergne again showed the British F3 field a clean pair heels during Tuesday’s test session at Snetterton.

The championship leader was the only man to break the 72 seconds barrier with his lap of 1m01.935s proving just 0.040sec shy of Marcus Ericsson’s 2008 benchmark.

Hitech duo Gabriel Dias and Will Buller were second and third, less than a tenth shy of the Carlin driver’s best.

Carlin maintained Volkswagen’s domination at the top times courtesy of Lucas Foresti and James Calado taking fourth and fifth before the first of the Mercedes-powered runners – Daniel McKenzie – rounded out the top six for Fortec.

Menasheh Idafar meanwhile set a best of 1m02.443s to outpoint T-Sport team mate and National Class rival James Cole by 0.159sec.

The championship continues at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on July 30/31.

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

Catch British F3 action on Motors TV throughout 2010.

Tom Hornsby