Kimball Doubles Up at Thruxton
Charlie Kimball followed up his maiden British F3 Championship pole position from this morning with another, after he topped the times in qualifying for tomorrow's second race at Thruxton
This time Carlin Motorsport's Californian driver was over half a second quicker than the rest of the field, after making the best of a handy slipstreaming opportunity on the fast Hampshire track.
It was an excellent session for the Carlin team, which also took second and third places on the grid with points leader Alvaro Parente and Dane Christian Bakkerud, who reckons the battle for the top time was closer than the times show.
"It was very close between me and Alvaro," said Bakkerud, "but Charlie got a big tow, which explains his pace."
The top six times were completed by Hitech's Marko Asmer, T-Sport's Ryan Lewis and Fortec driver Mike Conway, who failed to find the form that netted him second place in session one. Conway was unhappy with his set-up, and after making adjustments embarked on a final attempt to break into the top times towards the end of the session. Sixth was the best he could manage.
Thruxton's abrasive surface and the high speeds the cars run at always make tyre-wear a factor, but Kimball thinks he's got that covered.
"My tyres are good," he said. "There are only 10 laps on each set, and I spent the second half of each session just sitting in the pits saving the tyres." Of the three Carlin drivers, Kimball is reckoned to be using hard front tyres, and Parente on hard rears. Bakkerud, who is known for giving his rubber an easier time than either of his teammates, could just prove to be a dark horse.
"My strategy is: don't do anything crazy in the early laps and let the others make some mistakes," said Bakkerud.
British F3 - Thruxton - Results of Qualifying for Round 5 (Race 10):
Pos Driver Make-Engine Time Laps 1. Charlie Kimball Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:06.848 10 2. Alvaro Parente Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.383 + 0.535 19 3. Christian Bakkerud Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.419 + 0.571 13 4. Marko Asmer Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.431 + 0.583 18 5. Ryan Lewis Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.629 + 0.781 20 6. Mike Conway Dallara Opel Spiess 1:07.716 + 0.868 19 7. Tim Bridgman Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.762 + 0.914 12 8. James Walker Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:07.766 + 0.918 20 9. Danilo Dirani Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda 1:07.773 + 0.925 14 10. Dan Clarke Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:07.796 + 0.948 17 11. Bruno Senna Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:08.084 + 1.236 22 12. Steven Kane Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda 1:08.089 + 1.241 22 13. Barton Mawer Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:08.364 + 1.516 17 14. Stephen Jelley Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:08.383 + 1.535 24 15. Ronayne O'mahony Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:08.480 + 1.632 22 16. Charlie Hollings Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen H 1:08.693 + 1.845 20 17. Jonathan Kennard Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:08.927 + 2.079 20 18. Salvador Duran Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:08.947 + 2.099 15 19. Juho Annala Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:08.980 + 2.132 21 20. Josh Fisher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:09.223 + 2.375 19 21. Ricardo Teixeira Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:10.137 + 3.289 21 22. Keiko Ihara Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:10.230 + 3.382 19 23. Cheong Lou Meng Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:11.386 + 4.538 20 24. Nick Jones Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:11.685 + 4.837 20
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