Sato tops the times in Silverstone test

Sato, driving for Carlin Motorsport, set his quicker time in the morning session, although a number of drivers were able to go quicker in the second period this afternoon.

Sato ended the day just 0.184s quicker than the rest of the Green Flag British Formula 3 Championship field, with championship leader Antonio Pizzonia just behind him.

It was a good day for Manor Motorsport, Pizzonia¹s team, with its second driver Juan Manuel Lopez ending the day fifth quickest. Between them, though, were the two RC Benetton Junior Team cars of Denmark¹s Nicolas Kiesa and Milos Pavlovic(Yugoslavia). Despite their improved form, the team stressed it was still using the old specification Opel engine rather than the much-vaunted 2000 unit.

Matt Davies rounded out the top six having experimented with different rear-end settings on his Renault-powered Dallara, whilst Gary Paffett was again quickest in the Scholarship Class.

Top times
1 Takuma SATO Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda 1:15.425
2 Antonio PIZZONIA Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda 1:15.609
3 Nicolas KIESA Dallara F300 Spiess-Opel 1:15.981
4 Milos PAVLOVIC Dallara F300 Spiess-Opel 1:16.015
5Juan Manuel LOPEZ Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda 1:16.087
6 Matthew DAVIES Dallara F300 Renault 1:16.099
7 Andy PRIAULX Dallara F300 Renault 1:16.172
8 Tomas SCHECKTER Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda 1:16.184
9 Andrew KIRKALDY Dallara F300 Opel Spiess 1:16.376
10 Michael BENTWOOD Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda 1:16.385


Scholarship: Gary PAFFETT Dallara F398 Renault 1:17.013

Round five of the Green Flag British F3 Championship takes place at Silverstone, Northants, this Sunday at 2pm.