British F3 Silversone 1-2 May

[Richard B]

Bit late than usual but time to start a thread for the next rounds of the British F3 championship. Silverstone supported by (or should that be supporting?) FIA GT Championship.
The F3 cars have 2X30 mins practice sessions tomorrow, Friday, followed by the 2010 format of 1 qualy on Saturday followed by 1 race Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Full timetable on Silverstones site http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/...one-Supercar1/
Anybody betting against Jean-Eric Vergne?

[Steven Humphrey]

Could be anyones really-this is the first meeting on the new circuit layout so a bit of an unknown quantity for everyone.

[strider]

Here's the full timetable for folk who don't like following links:

Friday 30 April
09:00 to 09:30 - British F3 - Free Practice 1
09:40 to 11:00 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Free Practice
11:10 to 11:50 - GT4 European Cup - Free Practice 1
12:00 to 13:00 - FIA GT3 European Championship - Free Practice 1
13:00 to 14:00 - LUNCH
14:00 to 14:30 - British F3 - Free Practice 2
14:40 to 16:00 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Pre-Qualifying
16:10 to 16:50 - GT4 European Cup - Free Practice 2
17:00 to 18:00 - FIA GT3 European Championship

Saturday 1 May
09:00 to 09:50 - FIA GT3 European Championship - Qualifying
10:00 to 10:30 - British F3 - Qualifying
10:45 to 11:45 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Qualifying

11:55 to 12:30 - GT4 European Cup - Qualifying
12:30 to 13:15 - LUNCH
13:15 to 13:45 - Cooper Tires British F3 International Series - Race 1

14:14 to 15:15 - FIA GT3 European Championship - Race 1
15:45 to 16:25 - GT4 European Cup
17:15 to 18:15 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Qualifying Race

Sunday 2 May
09:30 to 10:00 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Warm Up
10:30 to 10:50 - Cooper Tires British F3 International Series - Race 2
10:55 to 11:10 - Church Break
11:00 to 11:30 - Pit Walk and Autograph Session
12:15 to 13:15 - FIA GT3 European Championship - Race 2
13:45 to 14:25 - GT4 European Cup - Race 2
15:15 to 16:15 - FIA GT1 World Championship - Championship Race
16:45 to 17:25 - Cooper Tires British F3 International Series - Race 3

The regular BF3 guys tested on the new Arena GP circuit the other week, so it will not be new to them, but it will be new to the three drivers from ART, so that may be interesting.

As far as I can see the timekeeping is not being done by by either MST or TSL, so it may be a struggle to get much more than results, i.e. Live Timing, but I will keep looking.

[strider]

I've discovered that the timing at Silverstone is being done by some Swiss company that doesn't appear to have a website, so there's definitely no Live Timing.

However, if these links work, you should end up with .pdf files showing the times in the free practice sessions at Silverstone today.

Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2.

To sum it up Jean-Eric Verne led the way in both sessions, and after him the rest of the top six were Gabriel Dias, Adriano Buzaid, Daisuke Nakajima, James Calado and Oli Webb.

Qualifying and Race 1 will all be wrapped by early tomorrow afternoon.

[strider]

Autosport has finally woken up! There's a qualifying report here and the best times were:

Pos Driver                Team          Car    Time          Gap
 1. James Calado          Carlin        D/V    1m53.198s
 2. Oli Webb              Fortec        D/M    1m53.329s  +0.131
 3. William Buller        Hitech        D/V    1m53.496s  +0.298
 4. Luiz Felipe Nasr      Raikkonen     D/M    1m53.602s  +0.404
 5. Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen     D/M    1m53.636s  +0.438
 6. Gabriel Dias          Hitech        D/V    1m53.645s  +0.447
 7. Adriano Buzaid        Carlin        D/V    1m53.649s  +0.451
 8. Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin        D/V    1m53.687s  +0.489
 9. Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen     D/M    1m53.839s  +0.641
10. Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin        D/V    1m53.961s  +0.763
11. Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin        D/V    1m53.999s  +0.801
12. Lucas Foresti         Carlin        D/V    1m54.055s  +0.857
13. Esteban Gutierrez     ART           D/M    1m54.209s  +1.011
14. Alexander Sims        ART           D/M    1m54.303s  +1.105
15. Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor      D/M    1m54.346s  +1.148
16. Daniel McKenzie       Fortec        D/M    1m54.489s  +1.291
17. Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport       D/H    1m54.493s  +1.295
18. Alex Brundle          T-Sport       D/V    1m54.813s  +1.615
19. Rio Haryanto          CF/Manor      D/M    1m55.381s  +2.183
20. Maxim Snegirev        Fortec        D/M    1m55.622s  +2.424
21. Jay Bridger           Litespeed     D/M    1m55.782s  +2.584
22. James Cole            T-Sport       D/H    1m56.323s  +3.125
23. Jim Pla               ART           D/M    1m56.376s  +3.178
24. Luiz Razia            West-Tec      D/H    1m56.435s  +3.237
25. Adderly Fong          Sino Vision   D/M    1m57.232s  +4.034
26. Kevin Chen            Sino Vision   D/M    1m59.531s  +6.333

Certainly a big day for James Calado and it's good to see Felipe Nasr showing the form I have been expecting all along.

[chunterer]

Cheers for this strider!

Interesting times there. As you say Calado and Nasr impressive, but Vergne nearly half a second off the pace?

ART seemingly suffering from something (I was going to say circuit knowledge, but that doesn't count for the most part.)

[strider]

The report on autosport.com says Vergne got stuck in traffic, but this is supposed to be the shiny new Arena Grand Prix circuit!

ART missed the test at the circuit the other week, but there isn't really an awful lot to learn and Alexander Sims in particular should be more on the pace.

Race 1 should be over by now, but I haven't managed to track down the results yet. There is no live timing even at the circuit, which seems a bit shoddy for what is an FIA GT1 World Championship event.

[FFfan]

Calado just edged race one from Webb. Vergne 4th

[FFfan]

ART used to Michelin rubber!

[strider]

Just managed to get the Race 1 results here in .pdf format.

Calado from Webb, Nakajima, Vergne (who moved up a bit), Huertas and Gutierrez, who moved up even more.

[strider]

Originally Posted by FFfan

ART used to Michelin rubber!

Really? I know they are in the Invitation Class and not eligible for points so it's neither here nor there, but you'd think they would have to use the control Cooper tyres. And why Michelin, not Kumho, which is what they use in the F3ES?

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by strider

Really? I know they are in the Invitation Class and not eligible for points so it's neither here nor there, but you'd think they would have to use the control Cooper tyres. And why Michelin, not Kumho, which is what they use in the F3ES?

No what I actually meant Strider is that AET are struggling with the Coopers tyres because they are used to running Michelin rubber in Europe

[strider]

Originally Posted by FFfan

No what I actually meant Strider is that ART are struggling with the Coopers tyres because they are used to running Michelin rubber in Europe

I see what you are saying now, but to be honest ART raced with BF3 in Spa and Portimao last year and Jules Bianchi did very well, so they should be used to the tyres by now.

[runshaw]

Its a bit like the Masters reversed this, with ART struggling to cope with Cooper rubber, rather than the British teams struggling with Kumho's at Zandvoort, where they obviously should have a neutral tyre. Thats under the assumption that it is the tyres which ART are struggling with, of course.

[strider]

Race 2, the one with the partly reversed grid, has now been run in the wet at Silverstone and saw a fine win by Alexander Sims. Report here and I will post a link to the results in a moment.

[strider]

Here's a .pdf file with Race 2 results: http://www.imagevaults.co.uk/silvers...ace2result.pdf

I still haven't seen a starting grid for this race.

Although Jean-Eric Vergne only finished 5th on the road, two of the cars ahead of him were in the Invitation Class, so he will pick up the points for 3rd. For the same reason I think Buzaid will pick up the 2 points for fastest lap.

[strider]

Race 2 results in simple format:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car     Time/Gap
 1.  Alexander Sims        ART                  D/M   22m13.659s
 2.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V     + 8.288s
 3.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M     + 9.386s
 4.  Esteban Gutierrez     ART                  D/M     + 9.441s
 5.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V    + 12.679s
 6.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V    + 12.949s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V    + 22.506s
 8.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 23.309s
 9.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V    + 26.829s
10.  Luiz Felipe Nasr      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 27.874s
11.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V    + 29.467s
12.  Jim Pla               ART                  D/M    + 29.589s
13.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M    + 29.696s
14.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V    + 42.212s
15.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M    + 42.816s
16.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H    + 46.798s
17.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H    + 48.800s
18.  Luiz Razia            West-Tec             D/H    + 58.023s
19.  Rio Haryanto          CF/Manor             D/M  + 1m19.430s
20.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M  + 1m32.336s

Retirements:

     William Buller        Hitech               D/V  9 laps
     Oliver Webb           Fortec               D/M  8 laps
     Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  1 lap
     Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  0 laps
     Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  0 laps

[Valker]

Originally Posted by strider

Here's a .pdf file with Race 2 results: http://www.imagevaults.co.uk/silvers...ace2result.pdf

I still haven't seen a starting grid for this race.

It's in the pdf file you linked...

[strider]

Originally Posted by Valker

It's in the pdf file you linked...

Thanks Valker! I should look at more of the file than just the results!

Race 3 is not until the end of the afternoon.

[strider]

Race 3 results in .pdf format. Link.

Another win for Calado on what must have been pretty much a dry track. Oli Webb fairly close in 2nd again (with fastest lap), but the biggest improvement must have have been a first podium for Felipe Nasr in 3rd. Vergne was 6th on the road, but 5th in the points.

[SS Supporter]

Having watched all 3 races this weekend this is how I saw it .

Calado : The star of qualifying and two clean starts and error free drives saw him translate that into two wins . Only a half spin when running 4th in the reverse grid race marred a perfect weekend . He must be pleased to know he can beat Vergne .
Webb : The biggest positive surprise for me . The only driver close to Calado in qualifying he also drove error free to two unchallenged 2nd places . I suspect his abiding memory of the weekend though will be the puddle he finished the reverse grid race in . Those who saw it were worried he might drown !
Vergne : Never on the pace all weekend but put in 3 solid drives for points . He is probably more surprised by this than anybody having dominated Oulton Park . I'm looking forward to a weekend when both he and Calado are on it .
Nasr : The first time he seemed to have got to grips with the car but a bizarre formation lap crash in the 1st race when Idafar just drove straight into the back of him spoilt the weekend for points gathering .
Nakajima : Best of last years drivers , solid drives in all 3 races he was desperately unlucky to break down in the last race with 1 lap to go when running 3rd .
Buzaid and Buller were disappointing . Buzaid was never on the pace at a track where I saw him win well twice in FRenault and Buller qualified well but made a series of errors in the races to end up nowhere .
Finally I must give a shout out to Alexander Sims for a terriffic drive in the wet reverse grid race from 11th on the grid to win , it's a shame he's not also in this series .

[strider]

It's very interesting to hear the views of someone who was at Silverstone for the races. I had planned to be, but whimped out when I saw the weather forecast. After the rain I believe it was also very cold yesterday.

After Oulton Park and all the pre-season tests I thought there was a danger that Jean-Eric Vergne might walk away with this thing, but James Calado certainly proved otherwise over the weekend and Oli Webb is hanging on in there doggedly.

It's a shame the National Class isn't better supported and you're right, it would be great if Alexander Sims were racing over here full-time, but I guess the lure of ART Grand Prix was too much.