FORMULA 3 rookie Will Bratt stunned the FIAT Spanish F3 Championship regulars during testing at Jarama near Madrid yesterday, the 19-year-old ending the two-day outing fastest of all, a full six tenths of a second clear of his nearest rival.

At the wheel of his EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport Dallara F3 car, the Banbury-based racer produced a breathtaking performance yesterday during only his second ever Formula 3 test run to lap with a quickest time of 1m 29.0 seconds Äì impressively just two tenths of a second shy of the existing F3 lap record at Jarama.

Very quick indeed throughout the course of his latest test, Will was approximately half a second shy of the outright pace on Monday. The following day though, the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) 'Rising Star' went on to obliterate his previous best to leave nearest rival, experienced F3 runner Christian Ebbesvik, six 10ths of a second adrift.

Speaking on his superb performance, Will said: "I'm delighted with the progress we've made over the last two days and obviously very happy to be fastest. We know where we could have been quicker too so it's pleasing to know there is more to come.

"On old tyres I managed to do a 1m 29.3 second lap, we were already quicker than anyone else at that point, and then when we put new tyres on we got down to 1m 29.0 seconds. We should have found more than the three 10ths of a second we did find with the new rubber, but we know where those additional tenths are so it's not a problem.

"The team is working really well and I think the improvements we made are a combination of changes to the car itself and also the fact I'm getting more and more comfortable. I enjoyed the last two days, Jarama is quite a technical track and is pretty narrow but it is good fun. I'm looking forward to our next test now which will hopefully be next week."