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Ricciardo dominates Silverstone test

Daniel Ricciardo continued his dominant form in British Formula 3 by topping both sessions of free practice today ahead of round two at Silverstone this weekend

The Australian lapped the GP loop in 1m40.546s in the morning session, 0.383s clear of team-mate Max Chilton who was the only other driver to lap below 1m41s in the opening 30-minute practice.

Red Bull-backed Ricciardo shaved another 0.398s off his best time in the faster afternoon session to finish the day with a 1m40.146s overall best, 0.388s clear of Chilton.

"We didn't have much time on track today but we were quick out of the box and good enough to be up there straight away so I'm happy," grinned Ricciardo, who impressed rivals with his line and speed through Stowe in particular.

"But it was a bit like this at Oulton where practice was good, but qualifying not so much, so I don't want to get too excited.

"I still think we can improve through Maggots and Becketts and find a couple of tenths, so we'll make a couple of changes before qualifying and hope to go quicker, but this is definitely a good start."

Colombian rookie Carlos Huertas continued to show impressive pace and finished the day third fastest for Raikkonen Robertson Racing, just over half a second adrift of the pacesetter, but only 0.028s quicker than series debutant Renger van der Zande.

The Dutchman, who finished fourth in the F3 Euro Series last season, used all of his category experience to propel Hitech's Dallara-Mercedes to the fourth fastest time, fractions clear of Fortec's Riki Christodoulou and Hitech team-mate Walter Grubmuller, who rounded out the top six as the last driver to lap below 1m41s.

Nick Tandy tried experimental set-ups on his Mygale-Mercedes that didn't quite work and limited him to the 16th quickest time in the morning, but the former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist improved to seventh in the afternoon, 0.866s behind Ricciardo, and hopes to challenge for the front row in qualifying tomorrow.

T-Sport continued its inconsistent start to the season with Brazilian Adriano Buzaid fifth in the morning, 0.9s adrift, and he only improved by two tenths in the afternoon and slipped to ninth.

Team-mate and reigning British Formula Ford champion Wayne Boyd struggled in the first part of the lap throughout the day and ended up only 15th fastest, slower than Buzaid and his other T-Sport compatriot, Gabriel Dias, who set the 11th quickest time in his Dallara-Mugen-Honda and finished fastest of the National Class runners.

Pos Driver                 Team             Car          Time
 1. Daniel Ricciardo       Carlin           D/V     1m40.148s
 2. Max Chilton            Carlin           D/V     1m40.536s
 3. Carlos Huertas         Double R         D/M     1m40.733s
 4. Renger van der Zande   Hitech           D/M     1m40.761s
 5. Riki Christodoulou     Fortec           D/M     1m40.778s
 6. Walter Grubmuller      Hitech           D/M     1m40.905s
 7. Nick Tandy             JTR              M/M     1m41.014s
 8. Daisuke Nakajima       Double R         D/M     1m41.134s
 9. Adriano Buzaid         T-Sport          D/V     1m41.295s
10. Henry Arundel          Carlin           D/V     1m41.301s
11. Gabriel Dias           T-Sport          D/H     1m41.312s
12. Oliver Oakes           Carlin           D/V     1m41.338s
13. Daniel McKenzie        Fortec           D/H     1m41.510s
14. Victor Garcia          Fortec           D/M     1m42.029s
15. Wayne Boyd             T-Sport          D/V     1m42.039s
16. Hywel Lloyd            CF               D/H     1m42.183s
17. Stephane Richelmi      Barazi Epsilon   D/M     1m43.494s
18. Victor Correa          Litespeed        S/H     1m44.163s
19. Max Snegirev           West-Tec         D/H     1m45.467s

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