Wet or dry, Carlin's Parente is confident.

After making a return to the British F3 International Series for the last round at Spa Francorchamps, Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente is full of confidence heading to the North East circuit of Croft.

Despite not racing at Spa due to the fog, it was obvious that the experienced Portuguese driver was right on the pace as he qualified on pole and in sixth place for the races which will be held later in the year.

The Carlin squad he's returned to has recently been strengthened by at addition of Andy Thorby, a well-respected engineer who was responsible for the design of the 2005 Mygale F3 car and who prior to this, designed the Toyota and March F3 cars.

Touching down in the UK today [Wednesday] from his Portuguese base, Parente is looking forward to the trip up North.

"I'm going to give it my best shot," he said. "The car was so easy to drive at Spa and at Snetterton - I think that we have a good combination to do well this weekend. I am looking forward to getting beyond qualifying and into a race!"

Steve Holman, commercial manager of Carlin motorsport, explains some of the reasoning behind his driver's confidence.

"We had a FOTA test at Snetterton last week and Alvaro Parente was quickest in the first dry session. After lunch, it rained and Alvaro was quickest. As the track dried Alvaro was quickest on the transition period to slicks before finaly being quickest in the last few minutes on a dry circuit," said Holman.

"Alvaro knows Croft and is clearly full of confidence. His experience and ability is sufficient for him to take another pole position, as he did at Spa, and we expect him to begin his 2005 race program with a podium finish."