Sowery and Ahmed top Friday morning sessions at Rockingham
Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery and Carlin’s Enaam Ahmed topped the morning practice sessions at Rockingham on Friday, as the BRDC British Formula 3 field geared up for the second round of the season at the unique banked circuit in Northamptonshire this weekend.
A cloudy yet dry morning greeted the drivers as they began the first of four half-hour long practice sessions at Rockingham, ahead of races four, five and six of the 2017 season.
Aiming to make up for a disappointing first weekend of his campaign, Toby Sowery topped the first session with a best lap time of 1m14.396s. That was just 0.092s quicker than Dane Nicolai Kjaergaard’s best effort, with the Fortec Motorsports man going second fastest.
Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jeremy Wahome was third quickest, two tenths of a second slower than Sowery’s ultimate pace, with Kjaergaard’s Fortec team-mate Ben Hingeley fourth and championship leader Enaam Ahmed fifth.
The second session got underway in similar conditions to the first, and at the halfway mark it was Ahmed who topped the timing screens from South African Callan O’Keeffe. Brazilian Double R Racing driver Guilherme Samaia soon moved into third before the majority of the field pitted to put on new slick Pirelli tyres.
That precipitated a plethora of fastest times with Sowery initially going quickest with a 1m13.937s before Ahmed lapped the Rockingham track in a time of 1m13.760s to move fastest once more, ahead of team-mate Cameron Das and Sowery. Ahmed then bettered his own time, lowering the benchmark to a 1m13.407s, with Sowery improving but still falling two tenths shy of Ahmed’s time with a 1m13.672s.
As the session heading into its closing moments, Das posted a personal best time but was still 0.144s slower than Ahmed, leaving the championship leader to top the session as the chequered flag flew.
The third session of the day gets underway at 14:35 and you can follow all the action through live timing and updates right here on the British Formula 3 website.
BRDC British F3 – Rockingham – Friday Practice One
1. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 1m14.396s
2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Fortec Motorsports, +0.092s
3. Jeremy Wahome, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.209s
4. Ben Hingeley, Fortec Motorsports, +0.237s
5. Enaam Ahmed, Carlin, +0.261s
6. Harry Hayek, Double R Racing, +0.273s
7. Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing, +0.400s
8. Chase Owen, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +0.439s
9. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.451s
10. James Pull, Carlin, +0.541s
11. Callan O’Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport, +0.613s
12. Guilherme Samaia, Double R Racing, +0.838s
13. Cameron Das, Carlin, +0.853s
14. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +0.866s
15. Aaron di Comberti, Lanan Racing, +1.676s
16. Nick Worm, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +2.133s
BRDC British F3 – Rockingham – Friday Practice Two
1. Enaam Ahmed, Carlin, 1m13.407s
2. Cameron Das, Carlin, +0.144s
3. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +0.265s
4. Ben Hingeley, Fortec Motorsports, +0.361s
5. Callan O’Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport, +0.567s
6. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.707s
7. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Fortec Motorsports, +0.708s
8. James Pull, Carlin, +0.758s
9. Chase Owen, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +0.831s
10. Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing, +0.836s
11. Harry Hayek, Double R Racing, +0.846s
12. Guilherme Samaia, Double R Racing, +1.031s
13. Jeremy Wahome, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.311s
14. Aaron di Comberti, Lanan Racing,+1.489s
15. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +1.847s
16. Nick Worm, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +3.036s
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