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Austin maestro in F3 test

Formula 3 veteran Rob Austin surged to the top of the times at Donington Park in the final test session ahead of this weekend's British championship opener at the Leicestershire circuit

Austin's Menu Motorsport Dallara-Opel lapped a full quarter of a second faster than the opposition before the Briton packed up early and ended his test. Although he was a podium finisher last season and runner-up to Antonio Pizzonia in the 1999 British Formula Renault rankings, Austin has yet to win an F3 race, but appears to have his best chance yet of doing so this weekend.

Carlin Motorsport drivers filled the next four positions, with rookie Jamie Green heading the team's quartet of Dallara-Mugen Hondas. Next up, in sixth overall, was a vastly improved showing from Nelson Angelo Piquet, whose three-time world champion father Nelson Sr is on hand to see his son's first race outside South America.

Last year's Marlboro Masters winner Fabio Carbone has made a temporary return to British F3 with Hitech Racing. The Renault-backed Brazilian is filling in for Frenchman Eric Salignon, who is in hospital with low blood pressure after suffering dizzy spells earlier in the week. Carbone was eighth in the test.

Steven Kane was quickest in the Scholarship Class in his T-Sport-run, ex-Anthony Davidson Dallara-Mugen.



1 Rob Austin (Menu Motorsport Dallara-Opel) 1m04.501s
2 Jamie Green (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.756s
3 Alan van der Merwe (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.759s
4 Richard Antinucci (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.820s
5 Ronnie Bremer (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.828s
6 Nelson Angelo Piquet (Piquet Sports Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.842s
7 Clivio Piccione (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m04.854s
8 Fabio Carbone (Hitech Racing Dallara-Renault) 1m04.910s
9 Danny Watts (Hitech Racing Dallara-Renault) 1m04.972s
10 Robert Dahlgren (Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Renault) 1m05.017s

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