31 Mar 2002

Jesper Carlsen starts the new season in the British Formula Three Championship Scholarship Class at Brands Hatch this weekend.

The 2002 campaign sees him rejoining his 1999 boss Mick Goldney who is running the new Essencial Formula Three team in the UK. The car is a unique in British F3 as it is powered by a Toyota engine.

Competition in the Scholarship Class provides some stiff competition with last season's Formula Ford hotshots Adam Carroll and Clivio Piccioni plus Formula Renault star Mohammed Fairuz expected to be Jesper's main competition.

Jesper was disappointed with first qualifying - he was 5th in class but correctly predicted he would be further up the grid in the second session where he posted the 3rd fastest time in the scholarship class.

Jesper finished an impressive second on his first race - beaten only by Canadian race Billy Assara. In the second race he was again on the scholarship class podium in third place, this time behind Adam Carroll and Adam Smith. Despite racing in a year old car with ballast on board, Jesper beat many of the drivers competing in this year's cars.