Sato shows pace at Donington test
Formula 3 ace and British American Racing test driver Takuma Sato topped the times at the second British F3 Championship test of 2001 at Donington Park on Tuesday
The Japanese driver, who was third in the standings last year and ended the season with a win at Silverstone, finished the day just over half a second ahead of second-placed man Anthony Davidson, another of BAR's F1 test roster.
BRDC McLaren Autosport young driver Davidson has joined Sato at Carlin Motorsport for 2001 and yesterday's times are a good indication that the pair will be the men to beat this year.
"It's been a good day," said Carlin team boss Trevor Carlin. "Takuma did a great job again and Anthony is extremely impressive given his lack of knowledge of an F3 car."
Nicolas Kiesa took the third spot for the Prost Junior team on a day punctuated by numerous pirouetting cars. Kiesa, who topped the times during testing last week at Jarama, was only 0.050s behind the Dallara-Mugen Honda of Davidson.
Andy Priaulx, who has switched from Promatecme to Alan Docking Racing, finished fourth ahead of Gianmaria Bruni's Fortec Dallara-Renault. Priaulx's Docking team mate Paul Edwards was sixth.
The Scholarship Class cars were also in action and Irishman Michael Keohane set the benchmark time of 1m30.347s in his Meritus-run Dallara-Toyota. Brit Robbie Kerr was second, closely followed by the Performance Racing Dallara of Mattthew Gilmore.
The teams are due to run again tomorrow (Thursday) at Sentterton and despite the unofficial nature of the test, the majority are expected to be in attendance.
Takuma Sato Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m27.814s
Anthony Davidson Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m28.326s
Nicolas Kiesa RC Prost Junior Team Dallara-Opel 1m38.376s
Andy Priaulx Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m28.407s
Gianmaria Bruni Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Renault 1m28.608s
Paul Edwards Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m28.631s
Michael Keohane Meritus Racing Dallara Toyota 1m30.347s
Robbie Kerr Parker F3 Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m30.391s
Matthew Gilmore Performance Racing Dallara-Opel 1m30.391s
Kazuki Hoshino Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m30.635s
Robert Doornbos Fred Goddard Dallara-Renault 1m30.677s
Mark Mayall Diamond Racing Team Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m30.709s
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