Jack Harvey Leads The Way In Opening Tests For British F3

Jack Harvey

Photo by: Stella-Maria Thomas

The opening tests of the Cooper Tires British F3 Championship came to a close today with British racing driver Jack Harvey posting times that put him in the top two at both circuits.

The British F3 season kicked off last week at Snettertonwith the drivers getting their first taste of the 2012 car. Day one was dry which enabled the Racing Steps Foundation driver to complete almost seventy laps and to make significant inroads into the team’s testing programme. By the end of the day he was P2; just 0.05 seconds off P1.

The second day at Snetterton saw heavy rain early in the morning which left the track waterlogged for the test. Harvey and the Carlin team made the call to sit out the first two sessions as cars were aquaplaning off the track. The track remained wet for the third session on the day and was still incredibly slippery; with cars continuing to struggle to stay on the circuit. Harvey completed just seven laps of the track before the call was made to not continue with the session due to the track conditions. Despite the limited running, Harvey was P5 by the end of the day.

Tuesday marked the start of the second test at Rockingham. With the track dry, Harvey and his team were able to continue to work their way through the testing plan and were posting competitive times from the off. Harvey was P2 by the end of the morning session and topped the timesheets at the end of the afternoon session; comfortably the quickest at 0.3 seconds faster than P2.

The second day of the test remained dry and the team were able to continue to test the components on the car that are new for 2012. Continuing to be right on the pace, Harvey finished the day P2 and just 0.05 seconds off the top of the time sheet.

“We’re very pleased with how the first two tests of the year have gone. To be posting times that are in the top two at both tests is a great start to the season. Everyone at Carlin has been working incredibly hard over the winter and the fact that the Carlin cars lead the way at both tests is testimony to all this work;” commented Jack Harvey.

“We’ve been able to make some good inroads into our testing plan. It’s still early days but compared to last year’s car this one feels like it has more grip, down force and drag. Next up is Silverstone for more testing and we’ll be aiming for another productive test there;” continued Jack Harvey.