Spa British F3: Nicholas Latifi ends free practice on top

The Canadian's time from the morning session, which was 0.765 seconds clear of Carlin team-mate Jordan King, was unbeaten in the afternoon's 35-minute period, in which Latifi was one of only two drivers not to improve.

King topped that session with a last-lap effort to pip Latifi by just seven thousandths of a second.

The other Carlin driver, Jann Mardenborough, was just one hundredth off the pace as he gears up for a busy weekend in which he will also contest the Spa 24 Hours in a Nissan.

The second session began on a track that was damp off line after a heavy lunchtime shower, but it soon dried out in the hot sunshine.

Latifi's effort was particularly strong as he has never raced at the Belgian track, while King competed here in Formula Renault last year and Mardenborough raced in last year's 24 Hours.

King said: "There's only eight of us [in the International Class], and with the weather changing it's hard for us to judge how we're going, and some people are on new tyres and some not. It's all a bit random, but I think we're all right."

Antonio Giovinazzi was half a second clear of Sean Gelael as the Double R Racing pair ended fourth and fifth, with team-mate Tatiana Calderon eighth.

Pre-weekend favourite Will Buller, who took maximum points at Spa in the two non-reversed-grid British F3 races in 2011, edged out Fortec team-mate Felipe Guimaraes for sixth, as the squad worked on experimenting before qualifying later today.

In the three-car National Class, China's Sun Zheng was more than two seconds clear of his opposition.


Practice one

Pos Driver               Team/Car                   Time     Gap           
 1. Nicholas Latifi      Carlin Dallara-VW          2m16.419s
 2. Jordan King          Carlin Dallara-VW          2m17.184s  +0.765
 3. Jann Mardenborough   Carlin Dallara-VW          2m17.225s  +0.806
 4. Antonio Giovinazzi   Double R Dallara-Merc      2m18.303s  +1.884
 5. Tatiana Calderon     Double R Dallara-Merc      2m18.923s  +2.504
 6. Felipe Guimaraes     Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m19.039s  +2.620
 7. Will Buller          Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m19.094s  +2.675
 8. Sean Gelael          Double R Dallara-Merc      2m19.273s  +2.854
 9. Sun Zheng            CF Dallara-Mugen           2m21.913s  +5.494 Nat
10. Jordan Oon           West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    2m23.324s  +6.905 Nat
11. Chris Vlok           West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    2m24.761s  +8.342 Nat

Practice two

Pos Driver               Team/Car                   Time     Gap      
 1. Jordan King          Carlin Dallara-VW          2m16.708s       
 2. Nicholas Latifi      Carlin Dallara-VW          2m16.715s  +0.007s
 3. Antonio Giovinazzi   Double R Dallara-Merc      2m16.718s  +0.010s
 4. Jann Mardenborough   Carlin Dallara-VW          2m17.243s  +0.535s
 5. Sean Gelael          Double R Dallara-Merc      2m17.792s  +1.084s
 6. Will Buller          Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m17.825s  +1.117s
 7. Felipe Guimaraes     Fortec Dallara-Merc        2m17.925s  +1.217s
 8. Tatiana Calderon     Double R Dallara-Merc      2m18.844s  +2.136s
 9. Sun Zheng            CF Dallara-Mugen           2m20.463s  +3.755s Nat
10. Jordan Oon           West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    2m22.722s  +6.014s Nat
11. Chris Vlok           West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    2m25.103s  +8.395s Nat