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Spa British F3: Ed Jones quickest in practice

Ed Jones returned from a two-month layoff from injury to top free practice for this weekend's British Formula 3 Championship round at Spa

The Anglo-Emirati, who damaged vertebrae in a European F3 shunt at Pau, edged out Carlin stablemate Sean Gelael by less than a tenth of a second in the second of the two 35-minute sessions.

Indonesian Gelael topped the opening session, but Jones found a small edge in the second.

"My back still hurts in heavy-breaking zones, where it puts pressure on it," said Jones, "but it's better than I expected. I just came back here to see that everything's OK [before his European F3 return at the Red Bull Ring next weekend]."

Surprisingly, Jones and Gelael's European F3-spec Volkswagen engines carried them to times only a second clear of the older-spec powerplants, principally due to differences between their usual Hankook tyres and the British-spec Cooper rubber.

"Normally I'm turning into Pouhon with just a lift," said Gelael, "but with these tyres it's a serious brake!"

With Jones and Gelael not running for points this weekend, Roberto Merhi headed the older-engines brigade in his Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes, and even the set fastest time in the twisty middle sector.

Engine problems restricted the Spaniard to just a couple of flying laps in the morning session, but, on his first run in an F312-generation Dallara, he finished the second period three tenths clear of John Bryant-Meisner.

Swede Bryant-Meisner was second in the morning session on his return to the Performance Racing team with which he raced in German F3 in 2012 and '13.

German F3 Cup interloper Indy Dontje was some way adrift in his Motopark car to take fifth, while Carlin's Peter Li put in by far his best performance to head the British F3 regulars in sixth.

Li pipped Sam MacLeod, who has jumped across to Carlin for this weekend, by five hundredths of a second, while Nabil Jeffri, championship leader Martin Cao and Matt Rao rounded out the top 10.

Pos Driver                   Car                           Time
 1. Ed Jones                 Carlin Dallara-VW             2m16.096s
 2. Sean Gelael              Carlin Dallara-VW             2m16.187s  +0.091s
 3. Roberto Merhi            Double R Dallara-Merc         2m17.212s  +1.116s
 4. John Bryant-Meisner      Performance Dallara-VW        2m17.556s  +1.460s
 5. Indy Dontje              Motopark Dallara-VW           2m18.318s  +2.222s
 6. Peter Li                 Carlin Dallara-VW             2m18.531s  +2.435s
 7. Sam MacLeod              Carlin Dallara-VW             2m18.581s  +2.485s
 8. Nabil Jeffri             Motopark Dallara-VW           2m18.731s  +2.635s
 9. Martin Cao               Fortec Dallara-Mercedes       2m19.068s  +2.972s
10. Matt Rao                 Fortec Dallara-Mercedes       2m19.069s  +2.973s
11. Andy Chang               Double R Dallara-Mercedes     2m19.316s  +3.220s
12. Camren Kaminsky          Double R Dallara-Mercedes     2m20.111s  +4.015s
13. Nikita Zlobin            ADM Dallara-VW                2m20.261s  +4.165s
14. Kang Ling                ADM Dallara-VW                2m20.879s  +4.783s

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