Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Chase Owen topped the opening day of testing at Brands Hatch ahead of this weekend’s (5/6) rounds of the BRDC British F3 Championship.

The first day of testing saw 11 drivers take to the track, the most notable absentees being title rivals Enaam Ahmed and Toby Sowery, plus the three Fortec cars. Testing took place on the shorter Indy layout, with the full Grand Prix circuit in use for this weekend’s races.

Owen was immediately competitive, proving to be the benchmark throughout the day, and finding a tenth in every session, eventually working up to a 43.367 lap in the final moments of the last session.

Second overall was Carlin’s James Pull, who led much of the final session with the fastest time of all, until Owen beat him by just over half a tenth. Pull headed Douglas Motorsport’s Jordan Cane, another who tried to improve in the final moments, just missing out by six hundredths of a second.

Cane’s team-mate Callan O’Keefe was fourth quickest, whilst Chris Dittmann Racing’s Omar Ismail ended the day fifth-fastest, and Carlin’s Cameron Das sixth.

Seventh and eighth were Double R’s Guilherme Samaia and Krishnaraaj Mahadik, the Indian driver making his British F3 comeback this weekend. Both posted their best times in the second hour, before Samaia’s third session was curtailed by a trip into the gravel at Paddock Hill bend.

The top ten was completed by Double R’s Jamie Chadwick and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jeremy Wahome, the pair posting their times in the final hour.

British F3 testing continues tomorrow, with four half-hour sessions on the Indy circuit.

BRDC British F3 Championship Thursday test, combined classification

1, Chase Owen, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, 43.367s

2, James Pull, Carlin, +0.056s

3, Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +0.064s

4, Callan O'Keeffe, Douglas Motorsport, +0.141s

5, Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.249s

6, Cameron Das, Carlin, +0.316s

7, Guilherme Samaia, Double R Racing, +0.366s

8, Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +0.467s

9, Jamie Chadwick, Double R Racing, +0.549s

10, Jeremy Wahome, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.568

11, Nick Worm, Hillspeed with Cliff Dempsey Racing, +0.984s