Croft: Sam Abay Saturday notes

TWO TOP TEN QUALIFYING POSITIONS FOR AUSSIE YOUNGSTER

Oxia Carlin driver Sam Abay will start rounds 3 and 4 of the 2008 British Formula 3 Championship from 9th and 5th on the grid, following two frantically fought qualifying sessions at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.

The youngster, who competes in his second Formula 3 meeting this weekend, put on a mature display in qualifying, despite admitting he wasn't able to make the most of his tyres in the first session. Eventually Abay secured a respectable 9th place starting position in the highly competitive field of 29 cars.

The second session saw the Australian rookie top the time sheet for much of the 30 minutes of qualifying, finally claiming the 5th grid position, two-tenths of a second away from the eventual pole time.

"The window in which the tyres are at their optimum for a quick lap is very narrow. The approach you have to use in qualifying is quite different from what I've been used to in Formula BMW. Naturally this is an area which I'll be looking to improve on as we gain more experience, but it's good to start the weekend with two solid qualifying positions." said Abay.

-credit: samabay.com