Carlos Sainz Jr quickest in British F3 test at Brands Hatch
Carlos Sainz Jr went fastest by almost half a second as the British Formula 3 International Series prepared for this weekend's Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit round with a pair of one-hour test sessions
The Spaniard unleashed a corking lap with just three minutes of running remaining, as most of the field improved in a final 10-minute sprint after National Class racer Spike Goddard had caused a red flag by crashing on the GP loop and damaging a tyre wall.
Up until then, Sainz had been trading fastest times with Jack Harvey, his stablemate in the Carlin squad of Dallara-Volkswagens. The two were evenly matched in the first session, which Sainz edged by 0.2s, and were again nip and tuck later on before Sainz did his flier.
Harvey was also demoted by team-mate Harry Tincknell, who snuck into second place in the closing couple of minutes at the circuit where he won a reversed-grid race last year.
Carlin's points leader Jazeman Jaafar was down in fifth, and was headed by Felix Serralles, who bounced back to form by beating Alex Lynn to be the fastest of the Fortec Motorsport quartet of Dallara-Mercedes.
As well as Goddard's crash, there were red flags in the earlier session caused when Pietro Fantin and British F3 returnee Adderly Fong took trips into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel.
Fong, driving a Dallara run by the CF Racing team, leapfrogged Goddard in the closing minutes to top the National Class times.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.257s 2. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.727s + 0.470s 3. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.881s + 0.624s 4. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m17.911s + 0.654s 5. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m18.002s + 0.745s 6. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m18.165s + 0.908s 7. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 1m18.269s + 1.012s 8. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m18.615s + 1.358s 9. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 1m19.050s + 1.793s 10. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m19.150s + 1.893s 11. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 1m19.473s + 2.216s 12. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m19.629s + 2.372s 13. Adderly Fong CF Dallara-Mugen 1m20.238s* + 2.981s 14. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 1m20.840s* + 3.583s 15. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen 1m22.711s* + 5.454s * = National Class
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