Double Pole for Asmer at Brands Hatch

14 July 2007

Round 11 Qualifying: Marko Asmer (#7 Hitech Racing) posted the fastest time in the red flag hit 30-minute qualifying session for Round 11 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series, 0.061 seconds ahead of Finland's Atte Mustonen (#26 Raikkonen Robertson Racing). Cheng Cong Fu (#39 Performance Racing) claimed the National Class pole and will start the race six places ahead of championship rival Sergio Perez (#31 T Sport).

Jonathan Kennard (#2 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) set the early pace with a 1m18.986s, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Maro Engel (#23 Carlin Motorsport) and Niall Breen (#21 Carlin Motorsport). Kennard improved but was passed by his Double R team mate Stephen Jelley (#1 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) and Sam Bird (#3 Carlin Motorsport) at the halfway point of the session.

At this point the red flags came out as three cars belonging to Alberto Valerio, Alex Waters and Mario Moraes were beached at various points around the circuit. After the cars were recovered the clock was reset for 15-minutes and the session was green flagged.

Championship leader Marko Asmer had been unable to get a clear lap before the red flags came out and was languishing towards the back of the grid. However he got a good run and moved up to 10th with 10 minutes of the session remaining and on the next lap put in a 1m17.891 lap to claim the top spot. Atte Mustonen was also showing his pace, posting a time just six hundredths adrift of the pole time, with Stephen Jelley and Sam Bird just behind. The second red flag of the session was displayed when Johnny Cecotto Jnr went off at Hawthorns in a heavy impact with the barriers. The Venezuelan was OK but his car was a bit of a mess.

The chequered flag was displayed and the Marko Asmer had his fifth pole of the season.

Round 12 Qualifying: Marko Asmer continued his relentless push towards the 2007 British F3 title by securing his second pole position of the weekend, and his sixth this season, finishing the session four tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rival Sebastian Hohenthal, the Swede scoring his best British F3 qualifying position. 'Frankie' Cheng also scored the double in the National Class, finishing six places ahead of his championship rival Sergio Perez (#31 T Sport).

Jonathan Kennard once again set the early pace but was soon passed by his Double R team mates, first by Atte Mustonen and then Stephen Jelley posting an early claim for a Double R 1-2-3 for Round 12. However it only lasted a lap when Marko Asmer banged in a 1m18.753 to claim the top spot and then improved the time again on the next two laps so after 10 minutes Asmer had posted a 1m18.097, a time the rest of the grid couldn’t get near.

Behind Asmer Rodolfo Gonzalez was having a better session, briefly holding a front row position before slipping back to 4th at the half way point of the session, but the Venezuelan had started to show the type of pace he won the British F3 National Class title last season.

As Asmer consolidated his lead by posting consistently in the 118’s Sebastian Hohenthal put in a couple of quick laps to claim the other front row position, the best qualifying result of the year for the Swedish driver. Sam Bird (#3 Carlin Motorsport) also improved on the first qualifying session to claim third on the grid ahead of Atte Mustonen, Jonathan Kennard and Rodolfo Gonzalez.

‘Frankie’ Cheng continued to dominate the National Class with another dominant pole position over Sergio Perez and Mike Meadows (#55 Newnet Raikkonen Robertson Racing).

Marko Asmer: "We only had one lap in the first session and I said we had more pace in the car for the second, and we've shown that. I got a good run and I got quite a few laps for pole. I couldn't go any faster so I decided to come in and save the tyres. I must thank the team for the hard work yesterday, my engineer stayed until midnight to work on the setup and I'm pleased to have two pole positions."

Round 11 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series gets underway at 11:40 on Sunday 15th July, with Round 12 due to start at 16:00.

SRO

See 2007 series calendar for British F3 Championship

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