BRDC British Formula 3 race-winner Jamie Chadwick heads the entry list for the season opening MRF Challenge round at Dubai this weekend, and has already topped both practice sessions.
Chadwick’s fastest time came in the first session, where she set a 1m59.218s. This was 0.363 seconds quicker than her nearest rival -?16-year-old Czech racer Petr Ptacek. The duo was also the fastest of the 12-driver grid in the second session.
Max Defourny, who spent 2018 racing part-time in Formula Renault Eurocup and against Chadwick in British F3, set the third-fastest time of the day, edging out MRF veteran 29-year-old Dylan Young. Rounding out the top five was Italian and ADAC Formula 4 driver Andreas Estner – his lap was over eight tenths off Chadwick’s benchmark.
Danial Frost, who finished sixth in the standings last season, set the sixth fastest time of the day in the afternoon session ahead of British F4 frontrunner Patrick Pasma. In eighth place was Belgium driver?Michelangelo Amendola, back for his second MRF season. Chadwick’s British F3 rival Joshua Mason was ninth quickest, with Sebastian Estner rounding out the top 10.
India’s only entry, Chetan Korada, was 11th fastest with Danish F4 star Valdemar Eriksen propping up the timesheet.
Combined best times from practice
1 Jamie Chadwick 1m59.218s
2 Petr Ptacek +0.363s
3 Max Defourny +0.438s
4 Dylan Young +0.479s
5 Andreas Estner +0.865s
6 Danial Frost +0.897s
7 Patrick Pasma +1.122s
8 Michelangelo Amendola +1.203s
9 Joshua Mason +2.383s
10 Sebastian Estner +3.082s
11 Chetan Korada +4.516s
12 Valdemar Eriksen +5.043s