Collard quickest during wet Brands Hatch practice

The first practice session of this weekend’s BRDC British Formula Three Championship has begun around Brands Hatch this morning with Ricky Collard coming out on top for Carlin in the challenging conditions. Heavy rain overnight and before the session made for a difficult hour with three red flags halting the way however as the track began to somewhat settle Collard was on the pace and the man to beat in first with Colton Herta, who is making his debut in the championship this weekend, placing in seventh and Ameya Vaidyanathan rounding off a strong session for the team in 12th position.

Rain before the session ensured that wet weather tyres were the order of the day as the cars lined up in the pit lane ready to begin their first of two hour long test sessions today. However after just a couple of laps around the Brands Hatch GP circuit, Collard made sure to move his Carlin car right to the top – setting his benchmark early on in proceedings. Herta, who is making his BRDC British Formula Three Championship debut this weekend, was getting up to speed in his car well and was regularly in the top ten along with team mate Vaidyanathan, before a red flag halted proceedings.

Over the next 20 minutes rain was off and on in the air before a second red flag brought the cars once again back in to the pit lane by which point Collard was in third, Herta sixth and Vaidyanathan eighth; all three dealing well with the changing conditions.

However the session was soon to be curtailed when a third red flag was thrown in to the mix in the final minutes. However by now the positions had changed once again with Collard now back on top with a 1:32.730. Herta, who had hit traffic on his flying laps, was in sixth and Vaidyanathan 12th. As the clock counted down, and the cars remained stationary in the pit lane, it soon became clear that when they were released, it would be a mad rush to the line with most unlikely to improve.

As the flag fell to mark the end of the opening session, Collard remained quickest showing his intent for the weekend. Herta was pipped to seventh while Vaidyanathan rounded off a strong showing for the team in 12th.

Collard said of Free Practice one, “I’m really happy with how that session went for us. We didn’t get the showing in the wet that we wanted at Snetterton and I was determined to put that right today in these conditions – which we did.  We’ve been working really well as a team and it’s great to be the quickest out there this morning and is exactly where we want to be heading for the rest of this weekend.”

All three drivers will be back out on track this afternoon for the second practice session which kicks off at 14.15 before qualifying and three races over the remainder of the weekend.