Argenti Motorsport’s Casper Stevenson set the pace as the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost marked it’s return with the first official test day since lockdown at Snetterton.

Stevenson, the inaugural recipient of British F4’s Scholarship, lit up the timesheets in the morning session, clocking a best time of 1:51.747 – only half a second adrift of Sebastian Alvarez’s 2019 pole position time – to lead the field.

“It was a great day overall, with many laps and learning a lot about the track and car,” said Stevenson. “My neck was hanging off at the end of the day, and that’s when you know you’ve gotten the most out of the day!”

The Peak Performance Management racer would be the only driver to get beneath the 1:52 barrier, with JHR’s James Hedley, Arden Motorsport’s Alex Connor and Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan all three tenths adrift in second, third and fourth respectively.

Connor had led the way for much of the running after the lunch break, but a late improvement to 1:52.081 gave O’Sullivan the bragging rights on the drive home from the 2.96-mile Norfolk circuit.

Fortec Motorsport’s charge was led by Roberto Faria in both sessions, the Brazilian putting in an ultra-consistent display to bag fifth in both sessions and overall, his best time only a fraction shy of the trio ahead.

Team mate Luke Browning was in the midfield early on, but improved later in the day to register the sixth best time, less than a tenth ahead of both Matias Zagazeta (Carlin) and Abbi Pulling (JHR).

Christian Mansell (Carlin) and Roman Bilinski (Arden) both rounded out the top ten overall, ahead of Nico Pino (Argenti), recently-announced JHR driver Nathanael Hodgkiss, Frederick Lubin (Arden), Rafael Villagomez (Mexico) and Reema Juffali (Argenti), who set the highest number of laps in the morning but did not feature throughout the 3-hour afternoon session.

The series moves on to it’s next official test day at Thruxton – the fastest circuit in the UK – on Monday, before heading to Donington Park on August 1/2 for the opening three rounds of the 2020 season.

F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost
Snetterton Test – Combined Classification (AM/PM)

1 / Casper STEVENSON / GBR / Argenti Motorsport / 1m51.747s / 95 laps
2 / James HEDLEY / GBR / JHR Developments / +0.275s / 74 laps
3 / Zak O’SULLIVAN / GBR / Carlin / +0.334s / 106 laps
4 / Alex CONNOR / GBR / Arden Motorsport / +0.342s / 90 laps
5 / Roberto FARIA / BRA / Fortec Motorsport / +0.591s / 92 laps
6 / Luke BROWNING / GBR / Fortec Motorsport / +0.885s / 86 laps
7 / Matias ZAGAZETA / PER / Carlin / +0.901s / 85 laps
8 / Abbi PULLING / GBR / JHR Developments / +0.934s / 102 laps
9 / Christian MANSELL / AUS / Carlin / +1.033s / 92 laps
10 / Roman BILINSKI / POL / Arden Motorsport / +1.290s / 87 laps
11 / Nico PINO / CHI / Argenti Motorsport / +1.343s / 102 laps
12 / Nathanael HODGKISS / GBR / JHR Developments / +1.405s / 84 laps
13 / Frederick LUBIN / GBR / Arden Motorsport / +1.583s / 80 laps
14 / Rafael VILLAGOMEZ / MEX / Fortec Motorsport / +1.945s / 108 laps
15 / Reema JUFFALI / KSA / Argenti Motorsport / +2.207s / 69 laps