Carlin Motorsport made a strong start to the 2008 British F3 International Series this week, with a successful test at the Pembrey circuit in Wales.
Taking part in the first official test of the season, all six Carlin cars were among the frontrunners, with Oliver Turvey and Sam Abay topping the time sheets on the first day of testing.
About to embark on his first season of F3, Racing Steps Foundation driver Turvey was immediately on the pace in his Carlin Dallara F308. The former Formula
BMW racer set the fastest time on Tuesday just ahead of fellow FBMW graduate Sam Abay.
Red Bull backed driver Jaime Alguersuari was the next Carlin driver setting the fourth quickest time with Brendon Hartley P7.
Having just announced the team's participation in the National championship, Andy Meyrick and Kristjan Einar were also on track and were competitive from the outset. Meyrick led the way on Tuesday, with an impressive effort to finish 12th overall and the quickest national driver.
Kristjan Einar was close behind finishing the first day 15th quickest and 3rd in the national class.
The Hampshire based squad made good use of the second day to test various set up changes and testing the cars with full fuel loads. Turvey continued his strong start to the season though and finished the day second fastest.
"It was great to be back on track this week after the winter test ban, and very encouraging to be quick from the first session," said Turvey.
"The car felt really good and I think we made good progress both in terms of my development in the car and our understanding of various set-up options. I'm looking forward to making further progress next week at
Snetterton."
"This test was really a mechanical shakedown and an opportunity to test a number of different set-ups and work on the development of the new cars. Nevertheless, it's encouraging that all six cars were competitive from the outset and I'm very impressed with the way all the drivers performed," added team boss, Trevor Carlin.
