Carlin Lead the Way at Brands Hatch

Carlin have started the Ford MSA Formula season with an impressive 1-2-3 in testing this afternoon ahead of the opening race of the year at Brands Hatch. Leading the way was James Pull who had been a pace setter over the course of both 45 minute practice sessions, followed closely by Max Fewtrell who had topped the earlier morning session. Devlin DeFrancesco was a protagonist this afternoon regularly switching places in the top three eventually finishing as the third quickest on track. Petru Florescu recovered well from an incident earlier which ended his session prematurely to finish in seventh.

The morning session was a strong affair for the Carlin drivers who were quickly up to pace around the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit. At less than 50 seconds a lap, the times were changing fast up and down the board and the top spot regularly featuring a different driver. Pull, Fewtrell and DeFrancesco all placed their Carlin cars at the top before Florescu received contact and a red flag was brought out on track – bringing his session to a premature end.

Down to three Carlin men, a final ten minute shoot-out occurred with Fewtrell as the man to beat as the flag fell. Pull made sure he was well in the mix lying in third position while DeFrancesco rounded off the top six nicely as the cars left the track and the team prepared for the second practice session.

A few hours later, the cars were back out on track for their final practice session before their qualifying attempts tomorrow morning. Starting where they left off Pull, Fewtrell and DeFrancesco were swapping positions in the top three throughout the entirety of the session forcing the lap times around the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit the drop further.

A short red flag period brought the four Carlin cars in to the pit lane for a brief moment however when action resumed Florescu was quick to ensure his car was firmly planted in seventh as the chequered flag fell.

Meanwhile at the front Pull, Fewtrell and DeFrancesco continued to battle it out amongst themselves – all vying to finish the day on top. And as the 45 minute session came to its conclusion it was Pull first, Fewtrell second and DeFrancesco third – with just 0.040 separating them.

Pull said of the practice session, “Today was great, really quite close but very good. The team looks to be very dominant here, and I’m happy to end as the quickest because that always gives a good confident boost. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow where it’s hopefully going to be a good start to the year for us!”

Fewtrell added, “It was a great day for me and for the whole team to be consistently right on the times. I really can’t wait to see what we can do tomorrow over the course of qualifying and then during the three races this weekend.”