Watts sets F3 testing pace at Silverstone.

Danny Watts was the star of Silverstone today [Friday] when he set the testing pace ahead of rounds nine and ten of the 2003 British F3 Championship gripped by Avon Tyres. In the Scholarship class, Steven Kane set the leading time.

The Buckingham racer made full use of his knowledge of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit to head the times during the two-hour test, which ended a few minutes early after Andrew Thompson spun into the gravel at Priory.

Watts sets F3 testing pace at Silverstone.

Danny Watts was the star of Silverstone today [Friday] when he set the testing pace ahead of rounds nine and ten of the 2003 British F3 Championship gripped by Avon Tyres. In the Scholarship class, Steven Kane set the leading time.

The Buckingham racer made full use of his knowledge of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit to head the times during the two-hour test, which ended a few minutes early after Andrew Thompson spun into the gravel at Priory.

Watt's best lap in dry but overcast conditions was almost three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else.

Despite having only done 20 laps in the car at Pembrey prior to running this morning, Adam Carroll was a superb second fastest on his debut for Menu F3 Motorsport. Having missed the last two F3 weekends, Carroll was immediately on the pace and impressed team manager Mike Baker with his approach. "He just gets on with it," reckoned Baker.

Championship leader Alan van der Merwe was third fastest and ended the test session confident about the race weekend. "It was difficult to know what the absolute pace was, the track seemed to go up and down on pace through the session," he explained. With blustery winds and a few spots of rain at the far end of the circuit, the conditions were certainly changeable.

Lapping within a fraction of a second of van der Merwe were Will Davison, Robert Dahlgren and Richard Antinucci.

In the Scholarship class, Kane's T-Sport car topped the times by just one hundredth of a second from Ernesto Viso.

"I didn't have a run with new tyres, so I'm happy," said the Venezuelan teenager, who was experiencing the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit for the first time. Virtually matching the times of Kane and Viso was Karun Chandhok in the other T-Sport entry.

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