British F3

Harvey on top in Donington Park test…

Jack Harvey bounced back from his Silverstone disappointments to set a strong pace in testing today on the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit. Racing Steps Foundation driver Harvey, 19, was the only man in the field to break the 1m 23s barrier around the 2.5-mile track, which will play host to the championship finale at the end of the month.

Harvey’s best lap of the 68 he completed during the three-and-a-half-hour session was clocked at 1m 22.987s, which would have earned him pole position at Donington last year and which was eight-hundredths better than his closest rival, Fortec’s Alex Lynn, could achieve.

Carlin driver Harvey holds third in the championship, 23 points behind his title race-leading team-mate Jazeman Jaafar. Jack is hoping that there will be a positive outcome for him to his team’s appeal against a 30-second time penalty handed him by Silverstone stewards after a collision in the second race.

“I think today shows that we will fight to the end whatever happens,” said Harvey. “If we get our points back then we can come to Donington positive about what we can achieve; if not, we can still come here confident of being able to compete for race wins. Whatever happens between now and then, we will be super-confident that we can push on. Anything less than two wins here will be disappointing. Today we showed good pace but definitely we feel that there is more time to come.”

Felix Serralles, who suffered a badly bruised coccyx at Silverstone when his Fortec Dallara landed heavily after an airborne moment, was back in the cockpit today “feeling a bit sore” but otherwise OK. He ended the day fourth fastest despite a late-session spin into the gravel.

Serralles holds championship second, six points behind Jaafar; the Malaysian driver was fifth fastest today, a quarter-second off Harvey.

Spike Goddard, the Australian who is aiming to clinch the National class title at Donington, today outpaced his closest rival, his T-Sport team-mate Pedro Pablo Calbimonte, by a tenth of a second.

The final three races in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series season take place at Donington over the weekend of 29/30 September.