Pye sets pace in Oulton Park test

The reigning British Formula Ford champion guided his Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes around the Cheshire venue in a 1m27.621s best in the first of three sessions to lead the way by over three tenths of a second. He thus became the first non-Carlin driver to top an official test this year.

"I am really pleased with the way things have gone today," said Pye. "I love Oulton Park; it's my favourite circuit, and I was on top here the first time I drove it in testing in a Formula Ford.

"Double R has done some valuable development work between the official tests and we have made big strides forward. I was quick on old tyres and new, so it bodes well for us."

Reigning National Class F3 champion Menasheh Idafar (T-Sport) was the only other driver to dip below 1m28s in his Dallara-Volkswagen. He was fast in all three sessions and finished up second overall - his best result in five days of testing held so far.

Carlin drivers Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Carlos Huertas led the way in the other two slower sessions. Colombian Huertas was quickest in the final session and his best time from the day's opening period (1m28.093s) was enough to put him third overall.

Svendsen-Cook topped the day's second session and that time (1m28.339s) was good enough to put him fifth fastest overall. This pair sandwiched Hitech's Brazilian rookie Pietro Fantin, who set the second fastest time in the last session of the day, which was enough to place him fourth overall.

Fellow Brazilian Pipo Derani (Double R) went third fastest in the final session, which was good enough for sixth overall, ahead of Carlin's Felipe Nasr and Kevin Magnussen.

Mercedes squad Fortec showed improvement on its early pre-season form to round out the top 10. Brazilian Lucas Foresti and Formula Renault graduate Harry Tincknell were within half a second of the pace in the final session, which was good enough for ninth and 10th overall.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                  Time       Gap 
 1.  Scott Pye             Double R Dallara-Merc     1m27.621s
 2.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m27.989s  + 0.368s
 3.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m28.093s  + 0.472s
 4.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech Dallara-VW         1m28.332s  + 0.711s
 5.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin Dallara-VW         1m28.339s  + 0.718s
 6.  Pipo Derani           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m28.346s  + 0.725s
 7.  Felipe Nasr           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m28.402s  + 0.781s
 8.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin Dallara-VW         1m28.481s  + 0.860s
 9.  Lucas Foresti         Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m28.643s  + 1.022s
10.  Harry Tincknell       Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m28.701s  + 1.080s
11.  Riki Christodoulou    Hitech Dallara-VW         1m28.716s  + 1.095s
12.  Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m28.769s  + 1.148s
13.  Will Buller           Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m28.962s  + 1.341s
14.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m29.117s  + 1.496s
15.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m29.139s  + 1.518s
16.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m29.509s  + 1.888s
17.  Yann Cunha            T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m29.807s  + 2.186s
18.  Bart Hylkema          T-Sport Dallara-Mugen     1m30.618s  + 2.997s
19.  Kotaru Sakurai        Hitech Dallara-Mugen      1m31.771s  + 4.150s