<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Sat, 31 Aug 2024 04:21:33 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Formula3 News</title><description>Interesting news about F3</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>277</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-2442706460259988367</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:30:06.212-07:00</atom:updated><title>Joe Tandy, 1983-2009</title><description>&lt;IMG border=1 hspace=10 alt=&quot;Joe Tandy&quot; align=right src=&quot;http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1242497049.jpg&quot; width=183 height=275&gt;Joe Tandy&#39;s death yesterday afternoon, at the age of just 26, has removed the linchpin of one of the brightest emerging teams in British single-seater racing.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;An accomplished racer in his own right, the Bedfordshire-based driver turned engineer became obsessed with motorsport from an early age and made his first foray into the sport through Short Oval Ministock racing aged 11.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A keen rugby player, footballer and swimmer during his school years, Tandy nevertheless remained undeterred from the motorsport path and won the World and National Ministox titles in 1998, aged 15, adding a further national title the following year.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Tandy graduated to circuit racing two years later, competing with moderate success in the Mini Se7en Challenge from 2001 until 2004 and in the latter days of the TVR Tuscan Challenge.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Meanwhile, after finishing college and completing an engineering apprenticeship, Tandy began working as a technician for Jonathan Palmer&#39;s Palmersport corporate driving days concern.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;His engineering acumen elevated him to chief mechanic by the age of 22, while his racing career continued to go from strength to strength.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The opportunity for him to test a Formula Palmer Audi single-seater at Bedford Autodrome resulted in him breaking IndyCar star Justin Wilson&#39;s then lap record. Tandy decided this was enough of an incentive to make the leap from 70bhp Mini racing, to 350bhp single-seaters.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He sold his Mini, found the budget to compete in the 2005 FPA championship and promptly won the title at his first attempt - taking six wins across the season, which included a triumph on his category debut at Oulton Park.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Tandy also made the final of that year&#39;s McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, but a lack of funds and opportunities to progress his own career prompted him to turn his attentions to younger brother Nick, who had just won the BRDC Single Seater Championship having also trodden the Ministocks and Mini circuit-racing path.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Problems with the works Ray team in British Formula Ford stifled Nick&#39;s progress mid-way through the following season and, after cutting a deal to buy a Ray chassis, Joe set up his own Joe Tandy Racing team to run Nick for the rest of the campaign.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Nick won on his JTR debut at Thruxton in 2006 and added a further triumph at the Castle Combe season finale.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That success prompted a team expansion to three cars for the following season as Nick won a further six races and finished third in the standings - firmly establishing JTR as a championship frontrunner.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;JTR also became the first team to win the Formula Ford Festival on the road in a Ray chassis that year, before a safety car infringement and subsequent exclusion robbed the Tandys of their success.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In order to continue Nick&#39;s rise through the motorsport ranks, JTR purchased a Mygale Formula 3 chassis and graduated to British F3 for 2008, while also switching its emerging Formula Ford squad to running the French manufacturer&#39;s cars instead of Rays.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Tandys went on to earn the respect and admiration of the entire British F3 paddock for turning an unfancied car into a regular frontrunner, railing against the established Dallara hordes with a small operation and a meagre budget - driven by little more than fierce intellect, a straight-talking attitude and a shared passion for the sport.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This tragedy comes just as Joe looked to set to help propel his brother into the ranks of British F3 race winners and title contenders.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;AUTOSPORT offers its sincere condolences to Tandy&#39;s family and friends at this difficult time.&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/sox-revitalized-stay-alive-at-home.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Sox revitalized, stay alive at home&quot;&gt;Sox revitalized, stay alive at home&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/never-counted-out-rays-take-game-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Never counted out, Rays take Game 2&quot;&gt;Never counted out, Rays take Game 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/12/jtr-target-boyd-for-second-seat.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;JTR target Boyd for second seat&quot;&gt;JTR target Boyd for second seat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/joe-tandy-1983-2009.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-4224174842193223901</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:30:01.306-07:00</atom:updated><title>Van der Zande hopeful of full season</title><description>&lt;IMG height=183 alt=&quot;Renger van der Zande&quot; hspace=10 src=&quot;http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1241267165.jpg&quot; width=275 align=right border=1&gt;Renger van der Zande says he would like to extend his one-race British Formula 3 deal with Hitech Racing beyond this weekend at Silverstone to contest the rest of the championship.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Mercedes-backed Dutchman, who finished fourth in F3 Euro Series last season, hoped to graduate to GP2 with Arden in 2009 but lost the deal when his major sponsor pulled out at the end of last year.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A planned switch to the DTM with Mercedes, after some encouraging testing performances, also fell through two weeks ago when the pointed star decided to reduce the number of cars it would field in this year&#39;s championship.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;For now it&#39;s only one race, but I&#39;d like to do the full championship here, the Masters and Macau,&quot; van der Zande told AUTOSPORT.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I like the team, it&#39;s a really good team. Mercedes contacted the Grubmullers who said they could sort something out for me. The first time I saw the car I was smiling and after the first time I drove it yesterday I was smiling even more.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Van der Zande will start his first British F3 race from the front row after setting second fastest time in qualifying this morning, just 0.021s adrift of pole-sitter Max Chilton and over three tenths clear of team-mate Walter Grubmuller.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;There&#39;s definitely more time in the car,&quot; he added. &quot;The thing for me is getting used to the tyres. The Kumho [used in the Euro Series] is very round and has more slip angle to play with, whereas the Coopers are narrower and just snap when you go over the limit. The compound is also softer and gives better grip.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Van der Zande ruled out the possibility of graduating to GP2 or the DTM this season, but hopes to make the move next year.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;This year I don&#39;t think there&#39;s a chance of GP2 or DTM,&quot; he said. &quot;Mercedes brought me in this weekend and my focus is on getting good results for them, but I&#39;d really like to do DTM - the car is super quick and sits me really well.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I can drive it quickly with two fingers in my nose, as we say in Holland.&quot;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/beloved-manuel-makes-series-special.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Beloved Manuel makes Series special&quot;&gt;Beloved Manuel makes Series special&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/one-for-all-all-for-one-phils-get-it.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&quot;&gt;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/12/ombra-target-british-f3-campaign.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ombra target British F3 campaign&quot;&gt;Ombra target British F3 campaign&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/04/yanks-rock-hard-rock-at-new-stadium.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Yanks rock Hard Rock at new Stadium&quot;&gt;Yanks rock Hard Rock at new Stadium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/bianchi-takes-le-mans-pole.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Bianchi takes Le Mans pole&quot;&gt;Bianchi takes Le Mans pole&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/van-der-zande-hopeful-of-full-season.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-7605038316283490690</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:29:56.282-07:00</atom:updated><title>Bridger signs for Litespeed</title><description>&lt;IMG border=1 hspace=10 alt=&quot;Jay Bridger &quot; align=right src=&quot;http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1242119209.jpg&quot; width=275 height=183&gt;Reigning British F3 National Class champion Jay Bridger has signed a deal with National Class outfit Litespeed to help run his championship class Mygale Mugen-Honda for the rest of the season.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Bridger missed the previous round at Silverstone earlier this month after enduring a difficult start to his campaign and splitting with Team West-Tec.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The 20-year-old ex-British Formula Ford front-runner will return to action at Rockingham later this month, testing on May 18th with a newly liveried car run under the Litespeed/Bridger Motorsport banner.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;This is a terrific opportunity for me to demonstrate what I am capable of,&quot; said Bridger. &quot;There is a definite meeting of minds with Litespeed and I am looking forward to a long and highly successful future together.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I would like to thank the team for their financial and engineering support and can&#39;t wait to work with such passionate and friendly people.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Director of engineering at Litespeed Steve Kenchington added: &quot;We are delighted to have Jay on board as he is an extremely capable British driver and a thoroughly nice guy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Jay&#39;s results at Oulton Park and subsequent missing of the race at Silverstone GP are unfortunate in terms of his challenge for the 2009 title, however we are confident that we will turn his fortunes round for the rest of the season. The car needs some development, but it won&#39;t take us long to have it in great shape.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Bridger&#39;s 2008 race engineer, Teo da Silva Lopes has joined the set-up and will run Bridger&#39;s car, assisted by Litespeed&#39;s engineering department.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Litespeed and Bridger Motorsport are also in discussions about establishing a Junior Team for 2010, managed by Bridger and engineered by Litespeed.&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/02/correa-signs-for-litespeed.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Correa signs for Litespeed&quot;&gt;Correa signs for Litespeed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/zambrano-game-2-central-figure.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&quot;&gt;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/one-for-all-all-for-one-phils-get-it.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&quot;&gt;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/02/west-tec-sign-snegirev-for-british-f3.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;West-Tec sign Snegirev for British F3&quot;&gt;West-Tec sign Snegirev for British F3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/02/bridger-joins-team-west-tec.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Bridger joins Team West-Tec&quot;&gt;Bridger joins Team West-Tec&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/bridger-signs-for-litespeed.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-3653971675301616784</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:29:50.267-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing</title><description>&lt;IMG border=1 hspace=10 alt=&quot;Daniel Ricciardo&quot; align=right src=&quot;http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1239899593.jpg&quot; width=183 height=275&gt;British Formula 3 championship leader Daniel Ricciardo underlined his early-season superiority by setting fastest time during official testing at Silverstone today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian lapped the damp Silverstone GP circuit in 2m01.953s in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara Volkswagen during this afternoon&#39;s fourth and final session, almost 0.3 seconds faster than Fortec rival Riki Chbristodoulou&#39;s Dallara Mercedes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Brazilian Adriano Buzaid (Dallara Volkswagen) cheered up T-Sport, after a difficult opening round at Oulton Park last weekend, by returning the squad to the sharp end of the timesheet with third fastest time, while team-mate Wayne Boyd was sixth behind Max Chilton and Nick Tandy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;On-going problems with his West-Tec-prepared Mygale Mugen-Honda prevented Jay Bridger from running, while National Class championship leader Daniel McKenzie didn&#39;t test either due to food poisoning.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                 Team             Car           Time   1. Daniel Ricciardo       Carlin           D/V      2m01.953s   2. Riki Christodoulou     Fortec           D/M      2m02.243s   3. Adriano Buzaid         T-Sport          D/V      2m02.841s   4. Max Chilton            Carlin           D/V      2m03.189s   5. Nick Tandy             JTR              M/M      2m03.513s   6. Wayne Boyd             T-Sport          D/V      2m03.964s   7. Henry Arundel          Carlin           D/V      2m04.273s   8. Oliver Oakes           Carlin           D/V      2m05.081s   9. Stephane Richelmi      Barazi Epsilon   D/M      2m05.618s  10. Victor Garcia          Fortec           D/M      2m05.700s  11. Hywel Lloyd            CF               D/H      2m06.124s  12. Carlos Huertas         Double R         D/M      2m06.577s  13. Walter Grubmuller      Hitech           D/M      2m07.416s  14. Max Snegirev           West-Tec         D/H      2m07.689s  15. Daisuke Nakajima       Double R         D/M      2m07.989s  16. Gabriel Dias           T-Sport          D/H      2m08.969s  17. Victor Correa          Litespeed        S/H      2m11.032s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/economic-state-may-affect-spending.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Economic state may affect spending&quot;&gt;Economic state may affect spending&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/01/burns-to-take-to-extra-innings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&quot;&gt;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot;&gt;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-partners-with-verizon.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network partners with Verizon&quot;&gt;MLB Network partners with Verizon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/ricciardo-tops-silverstone-testing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-35111821238150487</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:29:45.498-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo takes third British F3 win</title><description>&lt;IMG height=183 alt=&quot;Daniel Ricciardo, Carlin, Silverstone F3 2009&quot; hspace=10 src=&quot;http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1241380972.jpg&quot; width=275 align=right border=1&gt;Daniel Ricciardo extended his British Formula 3 championship lead by storming to his third victory from four starts in race two at Silverstone this afternoon.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian sat behind Carlin team-mate Max Chilton for most of the race, before beating him with a gutsy move around the outside at the super-fast Stowe corner to grab the win in the late stages.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;We stayed in formation for most of the race, but my car came on a bit better towards mid-race and I saw him have a few problems with oversteer,&quot; said Ricciardo. &quot;But I managed to get alongside through Maggots/Becketts and run side by side through a couple of corners. It was fun and clean.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A lap later Fortec&#39;s Riki Christodoulou feinted left, before making a superb lunge down the inside of the Dallara-Volkswagen at the Abbey chicane to steal second as a demoralised Chilton&#39;s challenge faded. The double poleman just held off the lurking Raikkonen Robertson car of Daisuke Nakajima to clinch the final podium spot.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;An aggressive-looking Nick Tandy showed yet more improvement with his Mygale-Mercedes, to take fifth place and a new lap record with the race&#39;s fastest lap at 1m41.282s.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The JTR driver took advantage of a storming start and some typically opportunistic racecraft to rise from 10th on the grid to sixth by the end of the third lap.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Henry Arundel (Carlin) rounded out the top six, ahead of Hitech&#39;s Walter Grubmuller, whose race one-winning team-mate Renger van der Zande ran third early on, before losing out to Christodoulou&#39;s brave braking into the Club chicane at mid-distance, and fading to 12th late on with an apparent loss of power in his Dallara-Mercedes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Gabriel Dias (T-Sport) completed a National Class double by mugging Daniel McKenzie on the last lap of the race and thus slightly reducing a substantial points disadvantage to his Fortec rival.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/P&gt;Pos  Driver                Team       Car  Time   1.  Daniel Ricciardo      Carlin     D/V  30m46.091s   2.  Riki Christodoulou    Fortec     D/M   +  1.963s   3.  Max Chilton           Carlin     D/V   +  4.755s   4.  Daisuke Nakajima      Double R   D/M   +  5.046s   5.  Nick Tandy            JTR        M/M   + 13.029s   6.  Henry Arundel         Carlin     D/V   + 22.007s   7.  Walter Grubmuller     Hitech     M/M   + 23.770s   8.  Carlos Huertas        Double R   D/M   + 25.434s   9.  Oliver Oakes          Carlin     D/V   + 26.781s  10.  Adriano Buzaid        T-Sport    D/V   + 27.439s  11.  Wayne Boyd            T-Sport    D/V   + 27.875s  12.  Renger van der Zande  Hitech     D/M   + 29.287s  13.  Hywel Lloyd           CF         D/H   + 29.869s  14.  Gabriel Dias          T-Sport    D/H   + 32.553s  15.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec     D/H   + 33.269s  16.  Victor Garcia         Fortec     D/M   + 33.539s  17.  Stephane Richelmi     Barazi     D/M   + 50.656s  18.  Victor Correa         Litespeed  S/H   + 52.572s    Retirements:         Max Snegirev          West-Tec   D/H  4 laps &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/shields-takes-pride-in-long-outings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Shields takes pride in long outings&quot;&gt;Shields takes pride in long outings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/ricciardo-takes-third-british-f3-win.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-6063529268737744058</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-17T15:29:36.739-07:00</atom:updated><title>Chilton secures dual Silverstone poles</title><description>Max Chilton claimed his third British F3 pole position from four attempts this season after topping the times in qualifying for race two on the Silverstone GP circuit this afternoon.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Carlin driver, who claimed he completed an almost perfect lap to snatch pole in this morning&#39;s first session, found another 0.017s this afternoon, to set a best lap of 1m39.781s on his first run on new tyres and claim the top spot.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He then parked his Dallara-Volkswagen in the pitlane with almost a third of the session remaining and watched his rivals try and fail to beat his benchmark.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Chilton&#39;s Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo recovered from his first session off at Copse to set second fastest time, 0.148s adrift, and lock out the front row for Carlin.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Like many, the Red Bull-backed driver had three bites at extracting the best from his tyres and his 1m39.929s best came on his 11th lap with barely a minute of the session remaining.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That supressed Fortec&#39;s Riki Christodoulou to third on the grid, 0.011s further back and the last man to break through the 1m40s barrier in this slower session.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Hitech&#39;s Renger van der Zande failed to extract some expected extra pace from his Dallara-Mercedes this time and finished the session fourth on a 1m40.016s best, 0.164s clear of T-Sport&#39;s Adriano Buzaid.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Brazilian again joined the action late, but struggled for speed initially before nailing a decent lap at the death to drop Daisuke Nakajima, who again set the pace early on for Raikkonen Robertson Racing, to sixth on the grid.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;JTR&#39;s Nick Tandy showed marked improvement compared with this morning (when he struggled to 15th) but his 1m40.517s best was still only good enough to round out the top 10, behind Henry Arundel, Carlos Huertas and Walter Grubmuller, who again struggled to match the pace of their team-mates.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                  Team             Car          Time   1. Max Chilton             Carlin           D/V     1m39.781s   2. Daniel Ricciardo        Carlin           D/V     1m39.929s   3. Riki Christodoulou      Fortec           D/M     1m39.940s   4. Renger van der Zande    Hitech           D/M     1m40.016s   5. Adriano Buzaid          T-Sport          D/V     1m40.180s   6. Daisuke Nakajima        Double R         D/M     1m40.251s   7. Henry Arundel           Carlin           D/V     1m40.286s   8. Carlos Huertas          Double R         D/M     1m40.424s   9. Walter Grubmuller       Hitech           D/M     1m40.468s  10. Nick Tandy              JTR              M/M     1m40.517s  11. Wayne Boyd              T-Sport          D/V     1m40.748s  12. Oliver Oakes            Carlin           D/V     1m40.919s  13. Gabriel Dias            T-Sport (N)      D/H     1m40.975s  14. Daniel McKenzie         Fortec (N)       D/H     1m41.128s  15. Hywel Lloyd             CF               D/H     1m41.314s  16. Victor Garcia           Fortec           D/M     1m41.326s  17. Stephane Richelmi       Barazi Epsilon   D/M     1m42.583s  18. Victor Correa           Litespeed (N)    S/H     1m43.062s  19. Max Snegirev            West-Tec (N)     D/H     1m44.397s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/penalties-give-alguersuari-pole.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Penalties give Alguersuari pole&quot;&gt;Penalties give Alguersuari pole&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/ricciardo-tops-silverstone-testing.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing&quot;&gt;Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-partners-with-verizon.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network partners with Verizon&quot;&gt;MLB Network partners with Verizon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/01/burns-to-take-to-extra-innings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&quot;&gt;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/05/chilton-secures-dual-silverstone-poles.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-3947625806271361121</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-19T01:15:13.453-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ricciardo-tops-silverstone-testing-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;British Formula 3 championship leader Daniel Ricciardo underlined his early-season superiority by setting fastest time during official testing at Silverstone today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian lapped the damp Silverstone GP circuit in 2m01.953s in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara Volkswagen during this afternoon&#39;s fourth and final session, almost 0.3 seconds faster than Fortec rival Riki Chbristodoulou&#39;s Dallara Mercedes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Brazilian Adriano Buzaid (Dallara Volkswagen) cheered up T-Sport, after a difficult opening round at Oulton Park last weekend, by returning the squad to the sharp end of the timesheet with third fastest time, while team-mate Wayne Boyd was sixth behind Max Chilton and Nick Tandy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;On-going problems with his West-Tec-prepared Mygale Mugen-Honda prevented Jay Bridger from running, while National Class championship leader Daniel McKenzie didn&#39;t test either due to food poisoning.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                 Team             Car           Time   1. Daniel Ricciardo       Carlin           D/V      2m01.953s   2. Riki Christodoulou     Fortec           D/M      2m02.243s   3. Adriano Buzaid         T-Sport          D/V      2m02.841s   4. Max Chilton            Carlin           D/V      2m03.189s   5. Nick Tandy             JTR              M/M      2m03.513s   6. Wayne Boyd             T-Sport          D/V      2m03.964s   7. Henry Arundel          Carlin           D/V      2m04.273s   8. Oliver Oakes           Carlin           D/V      2m05.081s   9. Stephane Richelmi      Barazi Epsilon   D/M      2m05.618s  10. Victor Garcia          Fortec           D/M      2m05.700s  11. Hywel Lloyd            CF               D/H      2m06.124s  12. Carlos Huertas         Double R         D/M      2m06.577s  13. Walter Grubmuller      Hitech           D/M      2m07.416s  14. Max Snegirev           West-Tec         D/H      2m07.689s  15. Daisuke Nakajima       Double R         D/M      2m07.989s  16. Gabriel Dias           T-Sport          D/H      2m08.969s  17. Victor Correa          Litespeed        S/H      2m11.032s</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-tops-silverstone-testing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-3458631934420866041</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-15T09:34:25.163-07:00</atom:updated><title>Donington British F3 race postponed</title><description>The British F3 championship&#39;s annual visit to Donington Park has been postponed due to ongoing issues with the circuit&#39;s track licence.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The UK&#39;s motor racing governing body - the Motor Sports Association - has yet to grant the Leicestershire venue a licence to hold race meetings in 2009, because of safety concerns over construction work for the British Grand Prix in 2010, and AUTOSPORT understands the circuit is unlikely to obtain that licence before British F3&#39;s planned visit on April 25/26.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The building of an access tunnel has dramatically reduced the run-off on either side of the track between McLeans and Coppice, and the MSA has requested work to be done to make the area safe for racing before granting Donington its licence.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;British F3 series boss Stephane Ratel told AUTOSPORT last week the Donington round would be postponed rather than cancelled if the circuit could not obtain its licence in time.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;A new provisional date has now been pencilled in for the weekend of July 18/19 - the same weekend as the World Touring Car Championship&#39;s visit to Brands Hatch.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/11/alguersuari-targets-rookie-macau-win.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win&quot;&gt;Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/alguersuari-consistency-key-to-title.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Alguersuari: Consistency key to title&quot;&gt;Alguersuari: Consistency key to title&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/evans-busts-out-for-indios.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Evans busts out for Indios&quot;&gt;Evans busts out for Indios&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/donington-british-f3-race-postponed.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-5569981442691151364</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-15T09:34:23.678-07:00</atom:updated><title>Q and A with Daniel Ricciardo</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/q-and-a-with-daniel-ricciardo-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Q and A with Daniel Ricciardo&quot; title=&quot;Q and A with Daniel Ricciardo&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Australian single-seater racer Daniel Ricciardo became the new rising star of British Formula 3 by scoring a double win at the 2009 season opener at Oulton Park last weekend.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In doing so, he also became the first driver to win a British F3 race with Volkswagen power since Steve Robertson, at Thruxton, almost 18 years ago. AUTOSPORT&#39;S British F3 correspondent Ben Anderson sat down with him after the race.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Q. How was your first weekend racing in British F3?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Daniel Ricciardo: Better than I expected actually, it&#39;s gone really well and I&#39;ve made a dream start to the championship.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I really like the track. Out of the English circuits we&#39;ve been too, it&#39;s my favourite.&lt;BR&gt;Coming here, after testing last month, I knew we had a pretty good chance to walk away with two wins. Not that I was expecting too, but I was hoping!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Q. You didn&#39;t seem entirely comfortable with the car after qualifying, where you didn&#39;t find any time between sessions, and it looked a handful in race one - what were you struggling with?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;DR: I wasn&#39;t 100 per cent happy with my race set-up and [Nick] Tandy gave me a really hard time in race one. We struggled with high-speed understeer in qualifying and I was having to be really tentative on the kerbs in race one, but we made some changes for race two and the tyres seemed to last at a higher pace for longer, which made things much easier for me! It was cool and I&#39;ll have to try and keep things like this for as long as possible, because I&#39;m sure the others are keen to catch me.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Q. Are there any circuits where you think you might struggle this season?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;DR: I hope I&#39;m going to be strong everywhere, but I&#39;m not sure yet. Testing at Silverstone International the other week was just okay  nothing too special from me  so we&#39;ve got some work to do there, but I don&#39;t think it&#39;s really a problem and, if it is, I&#39;m sure it&#39;s one we can solve. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Q. What have been your biggest challenges coming into this championship from the Formula Renault Eurocup?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;DR: Compared to Renault, the F3 is obviously a heavier, faster car, so physically I&#39;ve had to increase my training from last year. Also, getting used to using a handbrake for the starts and getting the technique has been tricky, but I seem to have got it nailed this weekend! I&#39;m aware I&#39;ve just got to keep learning, but I now feel I&#39;m at the level where I have an understanding of what the car can do and can get the most out of it. My relationship with my engineer is getting better and we&#39;re making good progress.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Q. Who do you think your biggest rival will be this season?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;DR: I think this weekend proved there&#39;s quite a few of us who can fight for race wins. Nick Tandy was always going to be strong, Walter [Grubmuller], with his F3 experience, he&#39;s started well. Max [Chilton] impressed with his pole, and [Daisuke] Nakajima in his first British F3 race was right up there, T-Sport were good at the Silverstone test and, although their guys didn&#39;t have the best weekend here, if they can find their form they&#39;ll be in the fight at the next round. So it&#39;s quite hard to say, but for sure there are a few guys who can do it. As for me, I&#39;m just going to take each race as it comes.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-expects-season-to-get-tougher.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo expects season to get tougher&quot;&gt;Ricciardo expects season to get tougher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/one-for-all-all-for-one-phils-get-it.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&quot;&gt;One for all, all for one: Phils get it done&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/01/hartley-goes-euro-series-with-carlin.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Hartley goes Euro Series with Carlin&quot;&gt;Hartley goes Euro Series with Carlin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/music-video-highlights-nlcs-game-4.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Music video highlights: NLCS Game 4&quot;&gt;Music video highlights: NLCS Game 4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/01/burns-to-take-to-extra-innings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&quot;&gt;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/q-and-with-daniel-ricciardo.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-4120710710104462452</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-15T09:34:22.111-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo expects season to get tougher</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ricciardo-expects-season-to-get-tougher-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ricciardo expects season to get tougher&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo expects season to get tougher&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;British Formula 3 pre-season title favourite Daniel Ricciardo believes he will face a tougher challenge from his rivals in future races than he did at the Oulton Park season opener last weekend.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian Carlin driver took two comfortable wins from two front row grid spots at Oulton, but expects to face stiffer competition as the season progresses.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I think this weekend proved there&#39;s quite a few of us who can fight for race wins,&quot; said Ricciardo, whose race one victory made him the first driver to win a British F3 race with a Volkswagen engine since Steve Robertson at Thruxton in 1991.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Nick Tandy was always going to be strong, Walter [Grubmuller], with his F3 experience, he&#39;s started well. Max [Chilton] impressed with his pole, and [Daisuke] Nakajima in his first British F3 race was right up there, so its quite hard to say, but for sure there are a few guys who can do it.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Ricciardo also reckons fellow VW-powered squad T-Sport will return to the fight at the front of the field, despite struggling for pace at Oulton.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;T-Sport were good at the Silverstone International test the other week and, although their guys didn&#39;t have the best weekend here, if they can find their form they&#39;ll be in the fight at the next round,&quot; he added.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I hope I&#39;m going to be strong everywhere, but I&#39;m not sure yet. Testing at Silverstone was just okay - nothing too special from me  so we&#39;ve got some work to do there, but I don&#39;t think it&#39;s really a problem and, if it is, I&#39;m sure it&#39;s one we can solve.&quot;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-wins-on-debut-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/q-and-with-daniel-ricciardo.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Q and A with Daniel Ricciardo&quot;&gt;Q and A with Daniel Ricciardo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-alds-set-rays-ready-for-white-sox.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&quot;&gt;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-expects-season-to-get-tougher.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-3949978835444172801</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-13T14:27:05.331-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo completes double at Oulton</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Australian Daniel Ricciardo completed a dominant British F3 double by racing to a comfortable victory in race two at Oulton Park this afternoon.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Carlin driver made two superb getaways at the start of the race, which was restarted following a first corner crash involving T-Sport team-mates Wayne Boyd and Gabriel Dias.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;On both occasions, poleman Walter Grubmuller fluffed his start and each time Ricciardo blasted past on the outside to take the lead before turn one.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;From there, Ricciardo was able to pull out an instant gap on his Austrian rival and maintain pace consistently to flag.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I wasn&#39;t sure I&#39;d be able to get such a good start both times,&quot; said Ricciardo. &quot;But it all worked out and from the first lap I was able to drive my own race and watch the gap back to the rest while keeping my laptimes fast and consistent.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Behind, Grubmuller showed strong pace in his pursuit of Ricciardo and even set the fastest race lap, but a couple of errors dropped him back into the clutches of the chasing Nick Tandy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Tandy held station in third for most of the race, after winning a first lap duel with Max Chilton, and didn&#39;t have the pace to capitalise despite Grubmuller&#39;s occasional errors. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Further back, Riki Christodoulou endured a frustrating race, stuck in sixth behind Daisuke Nakajima after also making a poor start.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                   Team             Car             Time         1. Daniel Ricciardo         Carlin           D/V       23m57.693s   2. Walter Grubmuller        Hitech           D/M          +2.625s   3. Nick Tandy               JTR              M/M          +4.454s   4. Max Chilton              Carlin           D/V         +10.652s   5. Daisuke Nakajima         Double R         D/M         +15.912s   6. Riki Christodoulou       Fortec           D/M         +16.721s   7. Adriano Buzaid           T-Sport          D/V         +17.623s   8. Oliver Oakes             Carlin           D/V         +21.381s   9. Henry Arundel            Carlin           D/V         +22.173s  10. Victor Garcia            Fortec           D/M         +29.372s  11. Hywel Lloyd              CF               D/H         +29.517s  12. Daniel McKenzie          Fortec (N)       D/H         +37.905s  13. Stephane Richelmi        Barazi Epsilon   D/M         +42.668s  14. Carlos Huertas           Double R         D/M         +43.578s  15. Maxim Snegirev           West-Tec (N)     D/H       +1m00.042s  16. Victor Correa            Litespeed (N)    S/H       +1m04.642s    Retirements        Jay Bridger              West-Tec         M/H           6 laps      Wayne Boyd               T-Sport          D/V           0 laps      Gabriel Dias             T-Sport (N)      D/H           0 laps      Fastest lap, Grubmuller 1m29.177s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-wins-on-debut-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/magnificent-7-rays-amaze-top-sox.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Magnificent 7: Rays amaze, top Sox&quot;&gt;Magnificent 7: Rays amaze, top Sox&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/grubmuller-takes-maiden-f3-pole.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&quot;&gt;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-6777329965055044809</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-13T14:27:03.960-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ricciardo-wins-on-debut-at-oulton-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo wins on debut at Oulton&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Pre-season title favourite Daniel Ricciardo got his British F3 championship challenge off to the perfect start by winning the first race of the year at Oulton Park this morning.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Red Bull-backed Australian sat behind his pole-sitting Carlin team-mate Max Chilton in second place for most of the race, with his mirrors full of the Mygale Mercedes of Nick Tandy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Having pulled out a comfortable lead early on, Chilton&#39;s challenge fell away in the closing stages once he learned he would be penalised for a jump start.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He gradually fell back into the clutches of the chasing pair and lost out to both on consecutive laps with only a handful of tours left, but not before infuriating the rapid Tandy who felt Chilton had blocked him deliberately for a lap while Ricciardo tried to escape with the lead.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I&#39;m really pleased to have won my first F3 race,&quot; said Ricciardo. &quot;The team said to me over the radio that Max had jumped the start and had a time penalty, so I knew I was racing for the lead. I pushed really hard towards the end and Nick kept me under pressure all the way.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Chilton&#39;s fate was already sealed and he finished third on the road but dropped to 17th after the flag, with one minute added to his time for the jump start.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That left race two poleman Walter Grubmuller to inherit the final podium place for former champion team Hitech, well clear of debutant Daisuke Nakajima. The Japanese rookie held third for the first few laps before he dropped behind Tandy and Grubmuller and spent the rest of the race defending from fellow series debutant Riki Christodoulou.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Expected frontrunning squad T-Sport, which has struggled so far this weekend, showed better pace in the race today. Adriano Buzaid and Wayne Boyd benefited from trouble at the start for Henry Arundel, Carlos Huertas and Oliver Oakes and finished sixth and seventh.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;They also set quickest laps 0.8s slower than Tandy&#39;s new lap record 1m28.772s in the race - an improvement of half a second compared with Buzaid&#39;s gap to the front-running pace in qualifying.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                   Team               Car            Time   1. Daniel Ricciardo         Carlin             D/V      29m53.932s   2. Nick Tandy               JTR                M/M         +2.459s   3. Walter Grubmuller        Hitech             D/M         +9.156s   4. Daisuke Nakajima         Double R           D/M        +16.489s   5. Riki Christodoulou       Fortec             D/M        +17.190s   6. Adriano Buzaid           T-Sport            D/V        +22.257s   7. Wayne Boyd               T-Sport            D/V        +23.997s   8. Hywel Lloyd              CF                 D/H        +25.253s   9. Oliver Oakes             Carlin             D/V        +25.801s  10. Victor Garcia            Fortec             D/M        +34.267s  11. Daniel McKenzie          Fortec (N)         D/H        +39.580s  12. Henry Arundel            Carlin             D/V        +40.095s  13. Stephane Richelmi        Barazi Epsilon     D/M        +51.477s  14. Carlos Huertas           Double R           D/M        +52.853s  15. Gabriel Dias             T-Sport (N)        D/H      +1m01.030s  16. Jay Bridger              West-Tec           M/H      +1m01.559s  17. Max Chilton              Carlin             D/V      +1m06.134s  18. Maxim Snegirev           West-Tec (N)       D/H          +1 lap    Retirements        Victor Correa            Litespeed (N)      S/H         11 laps      Fastest lap, Tandy 1m28.772s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/shields-takes-pride-in-long-outings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Shields takes pride in long outings&quot;&gt;Shields takes pride in long outings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-completes-double-at-oulton.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&quot;&gt;Ricciardo completes double at Oulton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/12/dan-plesac-joins-mlb-network.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Dan Plesac joins MLB Network&quot;&gt;Dan Plesac joins MLB Network&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/alguersuari-controls-first-race.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Alguersuari controls first race&quot;&gt;Alguersuari controls first race&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-partners-with-verizon.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network partners with Verizon&quot;&gt;MLB Network partners with Verizon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-wins-on-debut-at-oulton.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-7333002667103729452</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-13T14:27:02.463-07:00</atom:updated><title>Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/grubmuller-takes-maiden-f-pole-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Austrian racer Walter Grubmuller claimed pole position for race two during British Formula 3 second qualifying at Oulton Park this afternoon.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Like fellow championship veteran Max Chilton in this morning&#39;s session, Grubmuller was the only driver to break through the 1m27s barrier and thus took his first ever British F3 pole.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He topped the timesheet early on in his family-owned Hitech Racing-run Dallara-Mercedes - setting a 1m29.411s on his third lap and continuing to lower his own benchmark time in an impressive sequence of laps during the session.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Grubmuller set a 1m28.682s on his next tour, then 1m28.512s on his sixth lap, 1m28.192s on his seventh, 1m28.121s on his eighth and finally a 1m27.921s on his ninth effort.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Australian Carlin driver Daniel Ricciardo found only 0.002s of a second compared with session one, but his 1m28.103s lap was good enough for another front row start.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Fortec&#39;s Riki Christodoulou produced a late flurry to nab third spot from race one poleman Chilton with five minutes left, while Nick Tandy produced an identical 1m28.354s lap with just 60 seconds remaining to leap onto the second row in his Mygale-Mercedes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That bumped Chilton down to row three ahead of the two Raikkonen Robertson Racing cars. This time, Colombian Carlos Huertas outpaced Japanese team-mate Daisuke Nakajima by 0.041s to round out the top six.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;An engine change between sessions for Carlin driver Oliver Oakes did little for his prospects, as he again found himself mired in the lower reaches of the top 10.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Privateer Welshman Hywel Lloyd managed a career-best ninth fastest time, while T-Sport&#39;s two rookies again struggled - Adriano Buzaid and Wayne Boyd were both well over a second adrift of the pace.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                  Team             Car     Time          Gap   1. Walter Grubmuller       Hitech           D/M     1m27.921s   2. Daniel Ricciardo        Carlin           D/V     1m28.103s  +0.182   3. Riki Christodoulou      Fortec           D/M     1m28.354s  +0.433   4. Nick Tandy              JTR              M/M     1m28.354s  +0.433   5. Max Chilton             Carlin           D/V     1m28.416s  +0.495   6. Carlos Huertas          Double R         D/M     1m28.567s  +0.646   7. Daisuke Nakajima        Double R         D/M     1m28.608s  +0.687   8. Henry Arundel           Carlin           D/V     1m28.733s  +0.812   9. Hywel Lloyd             CF               D/H     1m28.939s  +1.018  10. Oliver Oakes            Carlin           D/V     1m28.950s  +1.029  11. Adriano Buzaid          T-Sport          D/V     1m29.248s  +1.327  12. Victor Garcia           Fortec           D/M     1m29.465s  +1.544  13. Jay Bridger             West-Tec         M/H     1m29.554s  +1.633  14. Wayne Boyd              T-Sport          D/V     1m29.604s  +1.683  15. Gabriel Dias            T-Sport (N)      D/H     1m29.867s  +1.946  16. Daniel McKenzie         Fortec (N)       D/H     1m29.964s  +2.043  17. Stephane Richelmi       Barazi Epsilon   D/M     1m31.193s  +3.272  18. Max Snegirev            West-Tec (N)     D/H     1m31.772s  +3.851 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/no-time-to-dwell-on-loss-for-rays.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;No time to dwell on loss for Rays&quot;&gt;No time to dwell on loss for Rays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/shields-takes-pride-in-long-outings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Shields takes pride in long outings&quot;&gt;Shields takes pride in long outings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/oakes-takes-maiden-f3-pole-position.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Oakes takes maiden F3 pole position&quot;&gt;Oakes takes maiden F3 pole position&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/01/burns-to-take-to-extra-innings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&quot;&gt;Burns to take &amp;#8216;Baseball&amp;#8217; to extra innings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/grubmuller-takes-maiden-f3-pole.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-4310292276732620286</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-13T14:27:01.119-07:00</atom:updated><title>Chilton claims pole for season opener</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/chilton-claims-pole-for-season-opener-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Chilton claims pole for season opener&quot; title=&quot;Chilton claims pole for season opener&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;British Formula 3 veteran Max Chilton claimed a surprise pole position for the opening race of the season in first qualifying at Oulton Park today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The 17-year-old younger brother of BTCC racer Tom lapped the International circuit in a blistering 1m27.830s with just 60 seconds remaining of the 30-minute session.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;That time put the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen driver on pole by 0.275s from Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo - five tenths inside reigning champion Jaime Alguersuari&#39;s 2008 pole time and 1.5s under the lap record.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I couldn&#39;t tell you where that time came from,&quot; said Chilton after claiming his third ever British F3 pole. &quot;I thought it was quite a slow lap actually and there were a couple of scrappy corners, but I just kept pushing every lap of the session and it finally all came together at the end.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Pre-season title favourite Ricciardo led the timesheet for much of the session, which was punctuated by a red flag 10 minutes in when Victor Correa went off at the Brittans chicaine, tore off the front wing and damaged the left front suspension on his Litespeed SLC Mugen-Honda.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;When the session resumed, Ricciardo, Chilton and Fortec driver Riki Christodoulou all took turns at the head of the times  shaving thousandths of a second off each other&#39;s times, all in the 1m28.1s bracket.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;With five minutes left, Ricciardo banged in a 1m28.105s lap and thought he&#39;d done enough to take the top spot, until Chilton milked his moment of inspiration.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;There wasn&#39;t much more to come from the car,&quot; admitted Ricciardo. &quot;It was good before the red flag, but afterwards I think the tyres went out of their operating window and the track got away from us a bit.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I had some high-speed understeer and wasn&#39;t great at picking the gaps in traffic, but we&#39;re still on the front row and hopefully we can go better in the next session.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Japanese rookie Daisuke Nakajima pulled out a stellar lap late in the day to go third fastest, just over a tenth of second adrift of Ricciardo&#39;s best.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Raikkonen Robertson Dallara-Mercedes racer pipped JTR&#39;s Nick Tandy by just four one thousandths of a second as the pair locked out row two.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Tandy waited until after the red flag to join in the on-track action and set a 1m28.240s lap, good enough for second on his sixth lap. But trouble in traffic and some over-aggressive driving in Hislop&#39;s chicane prevented him from ultimately figuring in the pole fight.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Hitech driver Walter Grubmuller used a last-gasp effort to pip Christodoulou for fifth place on the grid. The top 10 drivers were covered by just over a second.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Expected frontrunners T-Sport continued to struggle in qualifying. Brazilian Adriano Buzaid and reigning British Formula Ford champion Wayne Boyd finished the session 10th and 11th fastest respectively, over a second slower than poleman Chilton.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                 Team              Car    Time          Gap   1. Max Chilton            Carlin            D/V    1m27.830s   2. Daniel Ricciardo       Carlin            D/V    1m28.105s  +0.275   3. Daisuke Nakajima       Double R          D/M    1m28.236s  +0.406   4. Nick Tandy             JTR               M/M    1m28.240s  +0.410   5. Walter Grubmuller      Hitech            D/M    1m28.263s  +0.433   6. Riki Christodoulou     Fortec            D/M    1m28.309s  +0.479   7. Henry Arundel          Carlin            D/V    1m28.422s  +0.592   8. Carlos Huertas         Double R          D/M    1m28.423s  +0.593   9. Oliver Oakes           Carlin            D/V    1m28.654s  +0.824  10. Adriano Buzaid         T-Sport           D/V    1m28.894s  +1.064  11. Wayne Boyd             T-Sport           D/V    1m29.134s  +1.304  12. Victor Garcia          Fortec            D/M    1m29.315s  +1.485  13. Hywel Lloyd            CF                D/H    1m29.473s  +1.643  14. Daniel McKenzie        Fortec (N)        D/H    1m29.554s  +1.724  15. Jay Bridger            West-Tec          M/H    1m29.583s  +1.753  16. Gabriel Dias           T-Sport (N)       D/H    1m29.884s  +2.054  17. Stephane Richelmi      Barazi Epsilon    D/M    1m30.793s  +2.963  18. Victor Correa          Litespeed (N)     S/H    1m31.027s  +3.197  19. Max Snegirev           West-Tec (N)      D/H    1m31.529s  +3.699 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/shields-takes-pride-in-long-outings.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Shields takes pride in long outings&quot;&gt;Shields takes pride in long outings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/grubmuller-takes-maiden-f3-pole.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&quot;&gt;Grubmuller takes maiden F3 pole&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/zambrano-game-2-central-figure.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&quot;&gt;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/chilton-claims-pole-for-season-opener.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-3917514887604035288</guid><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-10T12:29:24.753-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo tops Oulton Park F3 test</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ricciardo-tops-oulton-park-f-test-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ricciardo tops Oulton Park F3 test&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo tops Oulton Park F3 test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;British Formula 3 title favourite Daniel Ricciardo got his first race weekend of the season off to the perfect start by setting the fastest time during official testing today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen driver lapped the Oulton Park International circuit a full half a second quicker than Nick Tandy&#39;s JTR Mygale-Mercedes during three 50 minute sessions.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The fastest times came during the second session, which included Ricciardo&#39;s 1m28.166s best lap, which he set on a new-tyre run and which put him over a tenth inside reigning champion Jaime Alguersuari&#39;s pole position time from last season.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The series rookie was fastest of all in the first two sectors of lap, but pipped to quickest time in the third sector by Tandy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The first two sessions were dry, while this afternoon&#39;s third and final session was rain affected.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Reflecting on his most dominant testing performance in British F3 to date, Formula Renault Eurocup graduate Ricciardo said: &quot;The car feels really good in both wet and dry conditions and we have been very quick in the all the sessions, so that should allow me to sleep a little better tonight.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;It&#39;s only practice of course, but if I can drive like I did today for the rest of the weekend then we should be in pretty good shape.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Fortec Dallara-Mercedes driver Riki Christodoulou set the third fastest time overall, just a tenth of a second slower than Tandy, with his best time coming in the opening session.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Formula Renault UK convert set the three quickest sector times in that first session, but could not hook it all up for a single lap. Had he done so he would have finished second fastest overall, just two tenths behind Ricciardo&#39;s best time.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Ricciardo&#39;s Carlin team-mates Max Chilton, Oliver Oakes and Henry Arundel lapped third, fourth and eighth fastest respectively, sandwiching Raikkonen Robertson pairing Carlos Huertas and Daisuke Nakajima.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Privateer Hywel Lloyd produced his best performance of the pre-season today and set a noteworthy ninth fastest time in his family-run Dallara-Mugen Honda, only 22 thousandths of a second slower than Arundel&#39;s best.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Austrian Walter Grubmuller rounded out the top 10, in a Hitech Dallara-Mercedes running a modified front wing, while frontrunning squad T-Sport endured a difficult day with its Dallara Volkswagens. Adriano Buzaid and Wayne Boyd could only manage 11th and 14th fastest times - 1.421s and 1.755s slower than Ricciardo.&lt;/P&gt;Pos  Driver              Team            Car  Time   1.  Daniel Ricciardo    Carlin          D/V  1m28.166s   2.  Nick Tandy          JTR             M/M  1m28.682s   3.  Riki Christodoulou  Fortec          D/M  1m28.794s   4.  Max Chilton         Carlin          D/V  1m28.809s   5.  Oliver Oakes        Carlin          D/V  1m28.875s   6.  Carlos Huertas      Double R        D/M  1m28.899s   7.  Daisuke Nakajima    Double R        D/M  1m29.039s   8.  Henry Arundel       Carlin          D/V  1m29.289s   9.  Hywel Lloyd         CF Racing       D/H  1m29.311s  10.  Walter Grubmuller   Hitech          D/M  1m29.351s  11.  Adriano Buzaid      T-Sport         D/V  1m29.587s  12.  Victor Garcia       Fortec          D/M  1m29.885s  13.  Daniel McKenzie     Fortec          D/M  1m29.917s  14.  Wayne Boyd          T-Sport         D/V  1m29.921s  15.  Jay Bridger         West-Tec        M/H  1m30.985s  16.  Gabriel Dias        T-Sport         D/H  1m31.344s  17.  Max Snegirev        West-Tec        D/H  1m31.976s  18.  Stephane Richelmi   Barazi Epsilon  D/M  1m32.014s  19.  Victor Correa       Litespeed       S/H  1m32.586s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/02/rock-icons-to-play-citizens-bank-park.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Rock icons to play Citizens Bank Park&quot;&gt;Rock icons to play Citizens Bank Park&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot;&gt;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/ricciardo-tops-oulton-park-f3-test.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-1546076519131792918</guid><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-05T06:42:41.210-07:00</atom:updated><title>Guerrero begins rehabilitation</title><description>2008 British F3 National class runner-up Steven Guerrero kicked off a rehabilitation programme this week, nearly four months after a road accident left him in a coma.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Guerrero suffered head injuries on November 14 last year when he crashed with a truck while riding a motorcycle in the city of El Guamo, southeast of Bogota, Colombia. Since then his recovery has been slow, regaining minimum consciousness in January.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;After a few weeks of further complications, the 19-year-old has made noticeable improvements, showing increasing signs of recovery which have finally allowed him to be transferred from the Clinica del Country to a rehabilitation clinic, where he has already started an intensive physical and psychological treatment.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Although Steven has minimum consciousness, he establishes sporadic contact with his environment,&quot; said Dr. Remberto Burgos about Guerrero&#39;s progress. &quot;He responds to some stimulus and occasionally expresses gestures of either satisfaction or pain.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;His systems are working well and all the complications have been overcome. We&#39;re very satisfied because he has responded well to different treatments, given the severity of his trauma and his initial neurological diagnosis.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Guerrero will spend the next few months in the Clinica Universitaria Teleton, north of Bogota, where doctors expect to help speed up his recovery.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Bogota native was set to compete this year in the British F3 International class for T-Sport after finishing second in the National class last year for the same squad.&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/02/royals-sign-wright-to-minors-deal.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Royals sign Wright to Minors deal&quot;&gt;Royals sign Wright to Minors deal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/11/guerrero-in-coma-after-road-crash.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Guerrero in coma after road crash&quot;&gt;Guerrero in coma after road crash&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/t-sport-to-run-dias-in-british-f3.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;T-Sport to run Dias in British F3&quot;&gt;T-Sport to run Dias in British F3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/drew-delivers-back-breaking-blow.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Drew delivers back-breaking blow&quot;&gt;Drew delivers back-breaking blow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/angels-rally-in-12-to-keep-season-alive.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Angels rally in 12 to keep season alive&quot;&gt;Angels rally in 12 to keep season alive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/guerrero-begins-rehabilitation.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-8417175418790019560</guid><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-05T06:42:40.330-07:00</atom:updated><title>Christodoulou confirms Fortec drive</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/christodoulou-confirms-fortec-drive-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Christodoulou confirms Fortec drive&quot; title=&quot;Christodoulou confirms Fortec drive&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Riki Christodoulou has confirmed that he will graduate to the British Formula 3 championship this season with Fortec Motorsport.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The 20-year-old Briton has tested well for the team throughout the pre-season and today confirmed a race deal with Fortec, who he has driven for in Formula Renault for the last two seasons.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;It&#39;s taken a long time to confirm my 2009 plans but now I can get my head down and focus on the opening races of the season,&quot; said Christodoulou. &quot;I can&#39;t wait to make my F3 debut.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;My aim is to win the championship title at my first attempt. I know I have the ability, the passion, the hunger and importantly, the tools to do the job - it&#39;s down to me whether I succeed.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Fortec is a top quality team who are determined to win the F3 title for the first time, while I believe the Dallara chassis and Mercedes engine combination is the best.&quot;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/zambrano-game-2-central-figure.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&quot;&gt;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot;&gt;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/christodoulou-confirms-fortec-drive.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-1483406188183929152</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-02T15:24:55.941-07:00</atom:updated><title>Huertas leads final British F3 test</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/huertas-leads-final-british-f-test-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Huertas leads final British F3 test&quot; title=&quot;Huertas leads final British F3 test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;British Formula 3 rookie Carlos Huertas set the fastest time during the second day of the final official pre-season test at Silverstone yesterday.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Colombian Raikkonen Robertson racer topped the timesheets for the first time since graduating to F3 from Formula BMW Europe.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He went quickest in both sessions and lapped the International circuit in a best time of 1m14.753s during the afternoon, a full tenth of a second faster than Carlin driver Max Chilton, who set his best time in the morning. Huertas&#39;s team-mate Daisuke Nakajima propped up a top 10 covered by 0.521 seconds.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The lap times were half a second slower than those set the previous day, when T-Sport driver Adriano Buzaid went quickest on his first run with the new 2009 Volkswagen engine.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Reflecting on his performance, Huertas said: &quot;We had a good day. We knew we had a few problems to solve following the short test session we did yesterday (Tuesday) and I&#39;m pleased that we&#39;ve made progress.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I improved on a couple of corners and the team made some steps forward with the car.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I&#39;m pleased that we were fastest in both the morning and afternoon session as that shows that we had genuine pace.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;It&#39;s good to finish testing on a high note with the first race of the season only a week or so away, although I know we still need to keep improving. I really can&#39;t wait for the racing to get underway.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Double R Team Principal Anthony Hieatt added: &quot;The team did a good job at Silverstone and Carlos is now showing the pace that we&#39;ve known he was capable of.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Daisuke also made progress, so I think from a team perspective we&#39;re in good shape for [the first round at] Oulton Park.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Meranwhile, Fortec driver Riki Christodoulou returned to Britain for the test, after two days of Renault World Series testing with Comtec at Barcelona, and set the ninth fastest time.&lt;/P&gt;Pos  Driver              Team            Car  Time   1.  Carlos Huertas      Double R        D/M  1m14.753s   2.  Max Chilton         Carlin          D/V  1m14.854s   3.  Henry Arundel       Carlin          D/V  1m14.965s   4.  Adriano Buzaid      T-Sport         D/V  1m14.969s   5.  Wayne Boyd          T-Sport         D/V  1m14.996s   6.  Daniel Ricciardo    Carlin          D/V  1m15.051s   7.  Oliver Oakes        Carlin          D/V  1m15.101s   8.  Nick Tandy          JTR             M/M  1m15.132s   9.  Riki Christodoulou  Fortec          D/M  1m15.231s  10.  Daisuke Nakajima    Double R        D/M  1m15.274s  11.  Hywel Lloyd         CF Racing       D/H  1m15.384s  12.  Victor Garcia       Fortec          D/M  1m15.392s  13.  Walter Grubmuller   Hitech          D/M  1m15.489s  14.  Stephane Richelmi   Barazi Epsilon  D/M  1m15.638s  15.  Gabriel Dias        T-Sport         D/H  1m15.857s  16.  Jay Bridger         West-Tec        M/H  1m16.083s  17.  Daniel McKenzie     Fortec          D/H  1m16.172s  18.  Victor Correa       Litespeed       S/H  1m16.727s  19.  Max Snegirev        West-Tec        D/H  1m17.263s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/zambrano-game-2-central-figure.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&quot;&gt;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/buzaid-quickest-in-british-f3-testing.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Buzaid quickest in British F3 testing&quot;&gt;Buzaid quickest in British F3 testing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot;&gt;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/huertas-leads-final-british-f3-test.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-1611894753873497871</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-02T15:24:54.811-07:00</atom:updated><title>British F3 drops Bucharest for Algarve</title><description>The British Formula 3 International Series has replaced its Bucharest street races with a new date at the Algarve International track in Portimao, Portugal.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The championship had been due to run alongside the FIA GT Championship in Romania again, but the Bucharest meeting&#39;s date change from 30 August to 9 August, due to a clash with a Madonna concert in the city, caused problems for F3.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;The original Bucharest date was ideal for us, but the Romanian event organisers had to bring it forward and it became logistically difficult for the teams,&quot; said Alistair Spence, a spokesman for British F3 promoter SRO. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;We were happy to explore other opportunities and we are more than delighted with the outcome.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Portimao races will take place on 12-13 September, with British F3 sharing the bill with the FIA GT3 series.&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-will-write-ending-to-game-5.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Best &amp;#8216;pen will write ending to Game 5&quot;&gt;Best &amp;#8216;pen will write ending to Game 5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/11/hartley-keen-to-end-season-on-high.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Hartley keen to end season on a high&quot;&gt;Hartley keen to end season on a high&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/11/q-and-with-jaime-alguersuari.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Q and A with Jaime Alguersuari&quot;&gt;Q and A with Jaime Alguersuari&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-alds-set-rays-ready-for-white-sox.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&quot;&gt;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/11/alguersuari-targets-rookie-macau-win.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win&quot;&gt;Alguersuari targets rookie Macau win&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/04/british-f3-drops-bucharest-for-algarve.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-755068240940940881</guid><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-31T12:28:12.834-07:00</atom:updated><title>Buzaid quickest in British F3 testing</title><description>Adriano Buzaid topped the timesheet on the first day of a back-to-back British Formula 3 test at Silverstone today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Formula Renault graduate lapped the International circuit in 1m14.289s during three hours of running this morning, pipping Carlin&#39;s Oliver Oakes by just 0.019s.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The test marked the first time front running T-Sport team, which ran GP2 Asia race-winner Sergio Perez to four wins and fourth place in British F3 last season, has run the new 2009-spec Volkswagen engine in it&#39;s two new Dallaras.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Buzaid reported a significant improvement in performance with the engine, which is some 15kg lighter than the previous spec VW motor.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Buzaid&#39;s team-mate, reigning British Formula Ford champion Wayne Boyd, lapped seventh fastest but only 0.153s slower than the Brazilian, while the fastest nine drivers were covered by just 0.329s.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Formula BMW Europe graduate Carlos Huertas continued his recent strong form by going third quickest for Raikkonen Robertson Racing. The Colombian was quickest of all in the final sector of the lap, while team-mate Daisuke Nakajima (younger brother of Williams F1 racer Kazuki) was fastest in the first two sectors, but eighth overall.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist Nick Tandy, who has been second fastest at each of the previous two official tests, struggled to match that form in the new Mygale-Mercedes today and could only manage the ninth fastest time - albeit only just over three tenths of a second shy of the pacesetter.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                Team              Car           Time   1. Adriano Buzaid        T-Sport           D/V      1m14.289s   2. Oliver Oakes          Carlin            D/V      1m14.308s   3. Carlos Huertas        Double R          D/M      1m14.329s   4. Max Chilton           Carlin            D/V      1m14.330s   5. Daniel Ricciardo      Carlin            D/V      1m14.346s   6. Henry Arundel         Carlin            D/V      1m14.381s   7. Wayne Boyd            T-Sport           D/V      1m14.442s   8. Daisuke Nakajima      Double R          D/M      1m14.542s   9. Nick Tandy            JTR               M/M      1m14.618s  10. Walter Grubmuller     Hitech            D/M      1m15.089s  11. Victor Garcia         Fortec            D/M      1m15.248s  12. Daniel McKenzie       Fortec (N)        D/M      1m15.386s  13. Hywel Lloyd           CF Racing         D/H      1m15.457s  14. Stephane Richelmi     Barazi Epsilon    D/M      1m15.604s  15. Gabriel Dias          T-Sport (N)       D/M      1m15.641s  16. Victor Correa         Litespeed (N)     S/H      1m16.041s  17. Max Snegirev          West-Tec (N)      D/H      1m16.479s  18. Jay Bridger           West-Tec          M/H      1m16.761s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/zambrano-game-2-central-figure.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&quot;&gt;Zambrano Game 2&amp;#8217;s central figure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/ricciardo-fastest-in-british-f3-testing.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Ricciardo fastest in British F3 testing&quot;&gt;Ricciardo fastest in British F3 testing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-partners-with-verizon.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network partners with Verizon&quot;&gt;MLB Network partners with Verizon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-alds-set-rays-ready-for-white-sox.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&quot;&gt;With ALDS set, Rays ready for White Sox&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/buzaid-quickest-in-british-f3-testing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-8350741928733750255</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:45:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-28T15:57:55.898-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ultimate pulls out of British F3</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/ultimate-pulls-out-of-british-f-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Ultimate pulls out of British F3&quot; title=&quot;Ultimate pulls out of British F3&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Ultimate Motorsport has abandoned its plan to compete in British Formula 3 this season.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The team, which joined the series in 2007 with Mygale chassis, had planned to switch to Dallara cars this year but today announced that it would not be running in F3 in 2009.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Team boss Barry Walsh cited the poor financial climate as the main reason and says he wants to concentrate his efforts on Ultimate&#39;s Formula Renault 3.5 campaign with Miguel Molina and Greg Mansell.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;This was an extremely difficult decision but with the current state of the world economic climate, every company has to cut their cloth accordingly,&quot; said Walsh.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Our World Series team has been setting the pace in pre season testing and with Miguel Molina and Greg Mansell we have a good shot at both the teams&#39; and drivers&#39; titles, so this is where our focus for 2009 must lie.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Ultimate scored the first F3 victories for the Mygale chassis when Michael Devaney took both wins at Snetterton last year.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;We are all extremely proud of what we achieved in just two seasons of British F3 and we certainly don&#39;t rule out a return to the category in the future.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Looking to the future, we are also planning to contest the Formula Renault Eurocup from 2010 to run alongside our World Series team. Ultimate will continue to provide aspiring young drivers with a clear motorsport ladder from karting right up to the ultimate goal of Formula 1.&quot;&lt;/P&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-partners-with-verizon.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network partners with Verizon&quot;&gt;MLB Network partners with Verizon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/beloved-manuel-makes-series-special.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Beloved Manuel makes Series special&quot;&gt;Beloved Manuel makes Series special&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/music-video-highlights-ws-preview.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Music video highlights: WS Preview&quot;&gt;Music video highlights: WS Preview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/02/west-tec-to-enter-mygale-in-britain.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;West-Tec to enter Mygale in Britain&quot;&gt;West-Tec to enter Mygale in Britain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/ultimate-pulls-out-of-british-f3.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-4085625756441219823</guid><pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:34:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-26T14:59:20.854-07:00</atom:updated><title>Merhi tops final Euro Series test</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/merhi-tops-final-euro-series-test-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Merhi tops final Euro Series test&quot; title=&quot;Merhi tops final Euro Series test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Roberto Merhi played down suggestions that he could be a title prospect in his rookie season of F3 after topping the timesheet on the final day of the Euro Series test at Valencia today.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The 17-year-old Formula Renault Eurocup graduate, who raced in the F3 Masters at Zolder and Macau Grand Prix last season, set a 1:26.989 lap during the morning session - more than quarter of a second faster than any of his 27 rivals managed.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Merhi was thrilled with his performance but is expecting things to be more difficult when the season beings at Hockenheim on May 17.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;Today could not have been a better way of ending two days of testing,&quot; he said. &quot;Manor is carrying out stupendous development work and my adaptation to this single-seater is coming on rapidly.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;I know for a newcomer to have achieved this performance is out of the ordinary but, come the start of the season things will be much harder.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&quot;For the time being, I certainly don&#39;t consider that I should be in the headlines as a title contender, although this ia presenting itself to be a promising year.&quot;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Title favourite Jules Bianchi set the second quickest time for ART Grand Prix, ahead of Atte Mustonen who continued his impressive pre-season form for Motopark Academy in third.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Brendon Hartley was quickest of the Volkswagen entries in fourth place for Carlin Motorsport, with Valterri Bottas (ART) and Sam Bird (Mucke) completing the top six.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                   Team               Car          Time   1. Roberto Merhi            Manor              D/M      1:26.989   2. Jules Bianchi            ART                D/M      1:27.278   3. Atte Mustonen            Motopark           D/M      1:27.580   4. Brendon Hartley          Carlin             D/V      1:27.868   5. Valtteri Bottas          ART                D/M      1:27.929   6. Sam Bird                 Mucke              D/M      1:28.048   7. Stefano Coletti          Prema              D/M      1:28.100   8. Cesar Ramos              Manor              D/M      1:28.149   9. Jon Lancaster            SG                 D/M      1:28.155  10. Christian Vietoris       Mucke              D/M      1:28.163  11. Andrea Caldarelli        SG                 D/M      1:28.179  12. Henkie Waldschmidt       SG                 D/M      1:28.267  13. Christopher Zanella      Motopark           D/M      1:28.272  14. Pedro Ferreira           Manor              D/M      1:28.277  15. Marco Wittmann           Mucke              D/M      1:28.334  16. Jake Rosenzweig          Carlin             D/V      1:28.475  17. Alexander Sims           Mucke              D/M      1:28.604  18. Matteo Chinosi           Prema              D/M      1:28.631  19. Esteban Gutierrez        ART                D/M      1:28.671  20. Carlo van Dam            Kolles &amp; Heinz     D/V      1:28.698  21. Mika Maki                Signature          D/V      1:28.794  22. Jean Karl Vernay         Signature          D/V      1:28.837  23. Kevin Mirocha            HBR                D/M      1:28.841  24. Johnny Cecotto           HBR                D/M      1:29.107  25. Tiago Geronimi           Signature          D/V      1:29.115  26. Jens Klingmann           Signature          D/V      1:29.286  27. Basil Shaaban            Prema              D/M      1:30.064  28. Adrien Tambay            ART                D/M      1:30.258 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-of-seven-series-better-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Best-of-seven series a better test&quot;&gt;Best-of-seven series a better test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlb-network-signs-vasgersian.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;MLB Network signs Vasgersian&quot;&gt;MLB Network signs Vasgersian&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/mustonen-tops-euro-series-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Mustonen tops Euro Series test&quot;&gt;Mustonen tops Euro Series test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/merhi-tops-final-euro-series-test.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-300787916495467011</guid><pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-25T17:07:38.309-07:00</atom:updated><title>Mustonen tops Euro Series test</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/mustonen-tops-euro-series-test-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Mustonen tops Euro Series test&quot; title=&quot;Mustonen tops Euro Series test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Atte Mustonen topped the first day of this week&#39;s official Formula 3 Euro Series test at Valencia.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Finnish driver is beginning his third season of F3, following two years with Raikkonen Robertson Racing in Britain before moving to Motopark Academy for 2009.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Mustonen&#39;s best time was one tenth of a second quicker than Manor Motorsport&#39;s F3 rookie Roberto Merhi.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;ART Grand Prix&#39;s Jules Bianchi was third fastest, ahead of Carlin Motorsport&#39;s Brendon Hartley and Mucke Motorsport&#39;s Sam Bird.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Christian Vietoris has been confirmed at Mucke, completing the team&#39;s four-car line-up and the German was 11th quickest in the test.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The other additions to the field were Matteo Chinosi, who was 22nd fastest for Prema Powerteam and Jens Klingmann, who was 28th for Kolles &amp; Heinz Union.&lt;/P&gt;Pos Driver                Team              Car     Time         Gap   1. Atte Mustonen         Motopark          D/M     1:27.713   2. Roberto Merhi         Manor             D/M     1:27.819  +0.106   3. Jules Bianchi         ART               D/M     1:27.976  +0.263   4. Brendon Hartley       Carlin            D/V     1:28.325  +0.612   5. Sam Bird              Mucke             D/M     1:28.425  +0.712   6. Marco Wittmann        Mucke             D/M     1:28.437  +0.724   7. Kevin Mirocha         HBR               D/M     1:28.508  +0.795   8. Cesar Ramos           Manor             D/M     1:28.579  +0.866   9. Valtteri Bottas       ART               D/M     1:28.585  +0.872  10. Stefano Coletti       Prema             D/M     1:28.632  +0.919  11. Christian Vietoris    Mucke             D/M     1:28.659  +0.946  12. Chistopher Zanella    Motopark          D/M     1:28.774  +1.061  13. Alexander Sims        Mucke             D/M     1:28.784  +1.074  14. Esteban Gutierrez     ART               D/M     1:28.832  +1.119  15. Henkie Waldschmidt    SG                D/M     1:28.897  +1.184  16. Jon Lancester         SG                D/M     1:28.935  +1.222  17. Mika Maki             Signature         D/V     1:28.952  +1.239  18. Johnny Cecotto Jr     HBR               D/M     1:29.022  +1.309  19. Jake Rosenzweig       Carlin            D/V     1:29.256  +1.543  20. Pedro Ferreira        Manor             D/M     1:29.323  +1.610  21. Andrea Caldarelli     SG                D/M     1:29.405  +1.692  22. Matteo Chinosi        Prema             D/M     1:29.546  +1.833  23. Adrien Tambay         ART               D/M     1:29.598  +1.885  24. Jean-Karl Vernay      Signature         D/V     1:29.623  +1.910  25. Basil Shaaban         Prema             D/M     1:29.678  +1.965  26. Carlo van Dam         Kolles &amp; Heinz    D/V     1:29.808  +2.095  27. Tiago Geronimi        Signature         D/M     1:29.932  +2.219  28. Jens Klingmann        Kolles &amp; Heinz    D/V     1:30.365  +2.652    (D/M = Dallara-Mercedes, D/V = Dallara-Volkswagen) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/music-video-highlights-ws-game-2.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Music video highlights: WS Game 2&quot;&gt;Music video highlights: WS Game 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-of-seven-series-better-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Best-of-seven series a better test&quot;&gt;Best-of-seven series a better test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/hulkenberg-claims-pole-at-hockenheim.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Hulkenberg claims pole at Hockenheim&quot;&gt;Hulkenberg claims pole at Hockenheim&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/vernay-stays-at-signature-in-euro-f3.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Vernay stays at Signature in Euro F3&quot;&gt;Vernay stays at Signature in Euro F3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/music-video-highlights-ws-preview.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Music video highlights: WS Preview&quot;&gt;Music video highlights: WS Preview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/mustonen-tops-euro-series-test.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-2188424955954542202</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-19T14:34:43.375-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ricciardo fastest in British F3 testing</title><description>A Volkswagen-powered car set the pace for the first time in British Formula 3 when ex-Formula Renault Eurocup frontrunner Daniel Ricciardo finished top of the timesheets during the third official pre-season test at Rockingham yesterday.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The Australian Carlin driver&#39;s best lap of 1m11.038s, set in the afternoon, put him over four tenths of a second clear of the rest of the field and 1.5 seconds below the official lap record.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Ricciardo repeatedly lapped inside the 1m11.5s bracket - posting six such times during the test. His performance returned his squad to the head of the pack for the first time since it helped Spaniard Jaime Alguesari become the youngest ever British F3 champion last season.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Bedford-based Nick Tandy went second fastest at his home circuit, powering his JTR Mygale-Mercedes to a 1m11.458s best, with Fortec&#39;s Riki Christodoulou third quickest, just eight-thousandths behind.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Reigning British Formula Ford champion Wayne Boyd enjoyed his best official testing performance to date by posting the fourth fastest time in his T-Sport Dallara Volkswagen. Less than a second covered the top 11 drivers at the test.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Fortec&#39;s Daniel McKenzie ran quickest of the three national class drivers and set the 15th fastest time overall.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Reigning National Class champion Jay Bridger gave his new international class Mygale-Mugen Honda, prepared by Team West-Tec and upgraded with a 2009 aero package, a debut airing at Rockingham.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Bridger propped up the timesheets and struggled to string laps together due to minor mechanical problems caused by the late completion of the car earlier that morning.&lt;/P&gt;Pos  Driver              Team       Car                    Time   1.  Daniel Ricciardo    Carlin     Dallara-Volkswagen     1m11.038s   2.  Nick Tandy          JTR        Mygale-Mercedes        1m11.458s   3.  Riki Christodoulou  Fortec     Dallara-Mercedes       1m11.466s   4.  Wayne Boyd          T-Sport    Dallara-Volkswagen     1m11.549s   5.  Carlos Huertas      Double R   Dallara-Mercedes       1m11.556s   6.  Max Chilton         Carlin     Dallara-Volkswagen     1m11.645s   7.  Victor Garcia       Fortec     Dallara-Mercedes       1m11.698s   8.  Daisuke Nakajima    Double R   Dallara-Mercedes       1m11.784s   9.  Henry Arundel       Carlin     Dallara-Volkswagen     1m11.802s  10.  Walter Grubmüller   Hitech     Dallara-Mercedes       1m11.803s  11.  Adriano Buzaid      T-Sport    Dallara-Volkswagen     1m11.904s  12.  Oliver Oakes        Carlin     Dallara-Volkswagen     1m12.159s  13.  Stephane Richelmi   Barazi     Dallara-Mercedes       1m12.423s  14.  Hywel Lloyd         CF         Dallara-Mugen Honda    1m12.709s  15.  Daniel McKenzie     Fortec     Dallara-Mugen Honda    1m13.686s  16.  Max Snegirev        West-Tec   Dallara-Mugen Honda    1m13.762s  17.  Victor Correa       Litespeed  Litespeed-Mugen Honda  1m14.898s  18.  Jay Bridger         West-Tec   Mygale-Mugen Honda     1m15.373s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot;&gt;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-of-seven-series-better-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Best-of-seven series a better test&quot;&gt;Best-of-seven series a better test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/01/carlin-confirm-vw-engine-switch.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Carlin confirm VW engine switch&quot;&gt;Carlin confirm VW engine switch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/ricciardo-fastest-in-british-f3-testing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6064222528202279113.post-438732857289588483</guid><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-12T16:20:03.459-07:00</atom:updated><title>Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://plsdontcallme.info/wp2/wp-content/uploads/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test-1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot; title=&quot;Grubmuller tops Oulton Park test&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Austrian racer Walter Grubmuller ended the second official British F3 pre-season test fastest after two days of running at Oulton Park this week.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Grubmuller, who is entering his third season of F3 with Hitech Racing this year, went quickest in the final session of the test on Wednesday afternoon in his Dallara Mercedes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;He pipped JTR&#39;s Nick Tandy, who made his first appearance of the season in the new 2009-spec Mygale Mercedes, by 0.054 seconds.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Formula Renault UK race-winner Riki Christodoulou set third fastest time for Fortec Motorsport in one of its Championship Class Dallara Mercedes cars. His efforts to tie up a race deal with the team are ongoing.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Carlin Motorsport&#39;s Daniel Ricciardo set fourth fastest time and was quickest of the Volkswagen-powered runners in one of the team&#39;s four Dallaras.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The start of the test was delayed while many teams struggled to pass noise tests. The cars normally run to 114db, but teams were forced to reduce this figure by 6db to meet Oulton&#39;s requirements and thus reduce their cars&#39; engine power outputs. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Monagasque racer Stephane Richelmi was forced to sit out the second day of the test after crashing his Brazi Epsilon Dallara Mercedes heavily on day one.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The next official test is at Rockingham next Tuesday (March 17). &lt;/P&gt;Pos  Driver              Team            Car                 Time         1.  Walter Grubmüller   Hitech          Dallara-Mercedes    1m 27.753s   2.  Nick Tandy          JTR             Mygale-Mercedes     1m 27.807s   3.  Riki Christodoulou  Fortec          Dallara-Mercedes    1m 27.903s   4.  Daniel Ricciardo    Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 27.924s   5.  Henry Arundel       Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 28.049s   6.  Max Chilton         Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 28.153s   7.  Oliver Oakes        Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 28.357s   8.  Adriano Buzaid      T-Sport         Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 28.525s   9.  Carlos Huertas      RR              Dallara-Mercedes    1m 28.693s  10.  Daisuke Nakajima    RR              Dallara-Mercedes    1m 29.152s  11.  Wayne Boyd          T-Sport         Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 29.294s  12.  Hywel Lloyd         CF Racing       Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 29.405s  13.  Victor Garcia       Fortec          Dallara-Mercedes    1m 29.509s  14.  Daniel McKenzie     Fortec          Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 29.937s  15.  Victor Correa       Litespeed       Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 31.365s  16.  Stéphane Richelmi   Barazi-Epsilon  Dallara-Mercedes    1m 31.606s  17.  Max Snegirev        West-Tec        Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m 32.597s &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2009/02/rock-icons-to-play-citizens-bank-park.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Rock icons to play Citizens Bank Park&quot;&gt;Rock icons to play Citizens Bank Park&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hotmlb.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-of-seven-series-better-test.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Best-of-seven series a better test&quot;&gt;Best-of-seven series a better test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://f3news.blogspot.com/2008/10/hartley-tops-testing-at-donington-park.html&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot; title=&quot;Hartley tops testing at Donington Park&quot;&gt;Hartley tops testing at Donington Park&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</description><link>http://f3news.blogspot.com/2009/03/grubmuller-tops-oulton-park-test.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (4wheels)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>