van der Merwe fastest at Donington.

Alan van der Merwe underlined the strength of his bid for the championship title by heading the testing times at Donington Park yesterday [Thursday] for the 2003 British F3 Championship with Avon Tyres.

Driving for Carlin Motorsport, van der Merwe topped a top six that was covered by just half a second as the prospects develop for an incredibly competitive season.

The Carlin team again made a major impression, recording three of the top six times. "It will be a big internal battle," predicts team boss Trevor Carlin when considering the season that starts at Donington on 5/6 April. However, with three other teams setting top six times, it will not only be their team-mates that the four-strong Carlin squad will have to beat.

Making it three young British aces in the top five times were Rob Austin [Menu F3 Motorsport], Jamie Green [Carlin Motorsport] and Danny Watts [Hitech Racing], who all demonstrated race-winning speed. Austin, despite a limited testing programme to date, was the biggest threat to van der Merwe's position at the head of the times.

In the morning session, van der Merwe headed the pack by three tenths of a second from Will Davison [Alan Docking Racing]. For the Australian, it was an encouraging performance and left him third fastest at the end of the day. "It's coming along well," reported the 20-year old. "The team is really motivated and I'm very happy with where I'm at."

The morning session ended with drama when series newcomer Saif Hassan from the United Arab Emirates spun at McLeans and was hit by Andrew Thompson [Hitech Racing]. Thompson's team-mate Danny Watts was close behind the incident. "Andrew had nowhere to go, he was really unlucky," said Watts. Both cars were damaged, with the Meritus car of Hassan suffering significant damage to the chassis.

In the Scholarship class, 17-year old Venezuelan Ernesto Viso set the pace throughout the day for Sweeney Racing. Chasing the flying youngster were British racers Steven Kane [T-Sport] and Christian England [Promatecme F3].

British F3 testing continues next week at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.

Leading times from Donington:

1. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport 1m 03.544s
2. Rob Austin Menu F3 Motorsport 1m 03.695s
3. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing 1m 03.849s
4. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport 1m 03.937s
5. Danny Watts Hitech Racing 1m 03.971s
6. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport 1m 04.048s

Scholarship class:

1. Ernesto Viso Sweeney Racing 1m 04.423s
2. Steven Kane T Sport 1m 04.592s
3. Christian England Promatecme F3 1m 04.845s
4. Karun Chandhok T Sport 1m 04.888s