Britain’s newest race track, Norfolk’s Snetterton ‘300’, will host its first major international meeting next weekend (14/15 May) when it welcomes the young stars of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series and the teams charged with nurturing their talents to create the Grand Prix stars of the future.
Add into the mix the unknown of a new Snetterton circuit layout and you have the recipe for an intriguing trio of races involving some of the best young single-seater talent in the world.
Pre-season favourite Nasr fulfilled the expectations placed upon him with a strong showing in the opening meeting of the year, last month at Monza; the Volkswagen-powered driver won the first and third races in Italy, despite the handicap of a relatively poor grid slot, and placed second behind his team-mate Rupert Svendsen-Cook in race two.
At Oulton Park, Felipe claimed a feature-race win from the pole, but was unable to find a way past Foresti’s Mercedes-engined Dallara in the first race of the Easter weekend. It was a maiden win for Lucas – surely the first of many – and an inch-perfect performance from the pole for good measure. Foresti trails Nasr by 34 points heading for Norfolk.
Svendsen-Cook’s Monza win was a confidence-booster for the Ipswich man, coming a year almost to the day since his first British F3 win. Rupert loved the old Snetterton, loves the new track too and will be keen to give his local supporters something to cheer about.
The other race winner so far is Midlander Riki Christodoulou, who led home his team-mate Pietro Fantin for a Hitech Racing 1-2 in the second ‘reverse grid’ race at Oulton Park. Riki is no stranger to success at Snetterton: he beat eventual champion Daniel Ricciardo to victory there in 2009, when driving for Fortec. Fantin, another of the boys from Brazil, arrives at Snetterton buoyed by his maiden podium at Oulton Park in what was only his second event as an International class driver.
Showing a real resurgence, Fortec has three drivers in the championship top 10, with young Brits Will Buller and Harry Tincknell going well already. Ulsterman Buller was dominant in Monza qualifying and was unlucky to return from Italy with a but single third-place trophy for his cabinet; Tincknell, whose first season in British F3 this is, surprised with his pace at Oulton and was rewarded with a maiden podium finish.
Fresh from his Oulton success, 19-year-old Exeter man Tincknell is looking for more at Snetterton: “I knew I had the pace from the outset at Monza, but I came away from there a little disappointed by the results achieved, so to be so close to the front at Oulton a week later was great, and it shows that we have a car which is capable of getting the results.
“I was delighted by my Oulton podium and I know that I can get more, even though Formula 3 is proving every bit as tough as I knew it would be. I have a lot more to learn and I am up against some much more experienced drivers, so it’s tough… The new Snetterton is good: the old track wasn’t much more than two or three corners; now it is a real challenge for a driver and, everyone agrees, a big step forward.”
Carlin has four drivers in the top five, with Malaysian Jazeman Jaafar three times a podium man already to tie on points with Foresti, and Colombian Carlos Huertas holding fourth in the title race, just ahead of Svendsen-Cook.
The other top-10 man is British-based Bahraini Menasheh Idafar, who put behind him the difficulties he encountered in Italy to shine for T-Sport in qualifying at Oulton Park. Crashes in race one and two in Cheshire did little to dent his confidence, and he responded to his critics with a fine third place in the Oulton feature race behind Nasr and Foresti.
It has been disappointment after disappointment for Kevin Magnussen so far this year but the Danish driver, son of 1994 British Formula 3 Champion Jan, shone in testing at Snetterton in early April, as did Huertas. Magnussen and Racing Steps Foundation-backed Jack Harvey, from Lincoln, complete the Carlin team’s six-strong line-up.
Also lurking just outside the top 10 are Double R Racing’s promising newcomers, Brazilian Pipo Derani and Australia’s Scott Pye. The new circuit should suit the Mercedes-engined cars of Double R and Sino Vision Racing, for whom Hywel Lloyd and Adderly Fong are showing well this season. Fong will be keen to get his first points of the season on the board, as will T-Sport’s Brazilian ace Yann Cunha and Fortec’s newcomer, Malaysian Fahmi Ilyas.
Dutch driver Bart Hylkema is unbeaten in the Rookie class so far in his T-Sport-prepared and Mugen Honda-engined Dallara, although his class rival, Hitech’s Japanese pilot Kotaro Sakurai, gave Bart a run for his money last time out.
British Formula 3 enjoys the headlining support of Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.
Snetterton timetable
Friday 13 May: 1000-1100 & 1345-1445 free practice
Saturday 14 May: 1040-1110 qualifying; 1455 Round 7 (30 mins)
Sunday 15 May: 1055 Round 8 (20 mins); 1615 Round 9 (40 mins)
