Italian Bruni tops Donington Park testing
Fortec Motorsport's Italian ace Gianmaria Bruni was fastest at Donington Park's Grand Prix circuit yesterday in testing for this weekend's rounds of the Green Flag British F3 Championship
Bruni's speed comes on the back of Gary Paffett's runner-up spot in the opening German Championship round - both use similar Renault engines. On a day that started dry but became increasingly damp, Bruni made the best of the limited dry running in the morning session to head Carlin Motorsport's Takuma Sato by just 45-thousandths of a second.
Sato's Dallara-Mugen was a further 0.093s ahead of Andy Priaulx, winner of the last round of the championship at Snetterton, in his Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen. The Englishman was again pleased to be amongst the leading group, and was happy to have found a better set-up for the East Midlands venue in the dry conditions.
Fellow Brit Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) was fourth fastest ahead of championship leader Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel) and James Courtney's Jaguar Racing F3 Dallara-Mugen.
The other two sessions were both held in the wet and were headed by the Carlin Motorsport pair of Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato - significant if conditions are bad this weekend.
Robbie Kerr was fastest in the Scholarship Class, headed his category opposition by just over two-tenths of a second in his Fred Goddard Racing Dallara-Renault.
Second quickest was championship pace-setter Matthew Gilmore in his Performance Racing Dallara-Opel and, making it six different teams in the top six, he was followed by Mark Mayall (Diamond Racing), Michael Keohane (Meritus), Kazuki Hoshino (Carlin Motorsport) and Stuart King (Shift Motorsport).
The fifth and sixth rounds of the Green Flag British F3 Championship will be held on the 2.5-mile Grand Prix circuit at Donington Park, Leicestershire, on April 29 as part of the PowerTour motorsport package.
Gianmaria Bruni, Fortec Dallara-Renault, 1m28.432s
Takuma Sato, Carlin Dallara-Mugen, 1m28.477s
Andy Priaulx, ADR Dallara-Mugen, 1m28.525s
Anthony Davidson, Carlin Dallara-Mugen, 1m28.559s
Matt Davies, Avanti Dallara-Opel, 1m28.646s
James Courtney, Jaguar Dallara-Mugen, 1m28.756s
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