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Carlin’s Jean-Eric Vergne was today once again the quickest of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 testers, the Frenchman one of a handful of drivers to sneak beneath the unofficial lap record at Oulton Park.
Jean-Eric Vergne in action at Oulton Park today Image by Jakob Ebrey Photography
The Cheshire circuit – venue for the championship’s opening rounds at Easter (3-5 April) – provided a chilly but ever-quickening venue for the 21 drivers taking part today, with Vergne setting the best time of the day which, at 1m 27.444s, was 1.4s better than Max Chilton’s 2008 pole position time. Jean-Eric was quickest last week also in the Rockingham official tests.
Raikkonen Robertson Racing’s Carlos Huertas was on top in the morning session, and the Colombian improved his pace after lunch to 1m 27.797s to run Vergne closest. Brazilian Adriano Buzaid was third fastest overall. Knutsford’s Oli Webb wound up fifth fastest on his home circuit, just behind the quickest of the Brits, Carlin’s James Calado.
Australian Scott Pye led the way today in the first major test of the forthcoming Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain season. The 20-year-old lapped Oulton Park in a time very nearly a second better than that which earned pole position at the Cheshire circuit last year – and this despite never having seen the track before.
Pye was pleased with his performance at the wheel of one of champion team Jamun Racing’s Mygale chassis: “I’m very pleased. I had a test with Jamun a month or so ago in Spain, so I knew what to expect from the team and the car, but it’s a tough job to come to a new circuit in a new country and be quickest.”
Preparations for the Formula Renault 2.0 season continued this week with two days of collective testing organized at the Barcelona circuit. Like at Valencia, Daniel Mancinelli (One Racing) came away with the best time, beating the Formula Renault 2.0 lap record for the circuit, into the bargain. The Italian driver finished ahead of Luciano Bacheta (Interwetten) and Arthur Pic (SG Formula).
The Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 line-up met up in Barcelona this week for the second collective test session of the year. On Tuesday morning and this is pretty unusual here the 23 drivers witnessed snow falling on the Catalunya circuit. The track was iced up in places and testing was not an option in the morning.
By 2pm, we finally got a green light at the pit exit. Gradually, cars and drivers emerged to check out the Catalunya track aboard New Formula Renault 2.0. Lap times cam down regularly throughout the first hour, with Luciano Bacheta going to the top of the timing screens and setting the time to beat with 148784. Miki Wekstrom (Koiranen Bros Motorsport) and Alex Riberas (Epsilon Euskadi) took turns to oust Bacheta from first place. Each time, the Italian came back stronger and, with a lap clocked in 145826, took a serious option on first place.
But in the last few minutes of the days testing, the pecking order changed again. Aaro Vainio (SG Formula), age 16, 2009 European Super KF Karting Champion and Super KF World Championship Runner-up, took control in 145811. The Finnish young gun finally surrendered the best time of the day to Adam Kout (Krenek Motorsport). Lapping in 145801, the Czech driver finished the first day of collective testing at the top of the timing charts ahead of Aaro Vainio, Luciano Bacheta, Bart Hylkema (Koiranan Bros Motorsport) and Miki Weckstrom.
AJ Glassberg in the Cockpit
Motorsport is as much as a business as a sport. For those of you who refuse to believe this you are deluding yourselves. The cost of competing in any racing series can be onerous in the extreme and unless you are lucky enough to have somebody willing to pay your way, talent alone will not get you to Formula 1 regardless of whether you think you are the next Michael Schumacher. American racer AJ Glassberg understands this fact and indeed thrives on it. “Racing is 90% business and 10% driving the car” contends Glassberg. The drivers who are successful he contends understand this and embrace it. “I am managing my career as a business and I believe that those drivers that take this approach and take charge of managing their careers themselves will be more successful in the end then those who rely on others to do it for them.”
Glassberg, who is currently studying International Business, has worked hard at obtaining sponsors and building up his personal brand. After growing up in Connecticut and having a neighbour’s go kart fuel his need for speed, he moved to Florida at age 12 and enrolled in the Skip Barber Racing School years later. After racing in the their regional series for three years it added fuel to the fire to make it to the top of the ladder, Formula 1. “I didn’t do a lot of karting as a kid like most racers do but after racing in the Barber Series I was always told I have what it takes to become a professional.” This was confirmed when Group A Racing contacted him last October to test a F2000 Championship Series car. He won all 3 races they entered him into in miserable conditions. “It’s been a struggle because in 2009 I had full sponsorship to run in the Formula BMW Americas series but that folded. Now I am working harder than ever to secure something for 2010 but it is tough in this economy.”
It is only appropriate that in this week when we have a feature on Formula Ford that we get a chance to see first hand how wild Formula Ford can get.
This video is from the 2009 Australian Formula Ford race at Surfer’s Paradise. It is the last lap and all hell is about to breal loose, not once, not twice but three times!
Check this out and enjoy!
Filip Salaquarda prepares 2010
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