Lebanese driver Karl Massaad continues to build experience ahead of the 2017 British F4 Championship, which is certified by the FIA.
The 18-year-old is moving from karting to the international stage, representing Lebanon and the Arab world with Double R Racing, the team founded by Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and his manager Steve Robertson.
Massaad has completed 14 days of intensive testing so far, with four more days of official championship tests to come at several British circuits before the season starts. He has also been working on his fitness and lost more than 4 kg recently.
At Thruxton, one of the fastest circuits in the world and the fastest on the F4 calendar, he set the fastest time of all drivers on only his second day there, a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate and Scandinavian Formula Renault champion Linus Lundqvist.
He is building confidence in the Mygale chassis with its 1.4-litre Ford turbo engine.
There is still a lot of work to do, and I am still learning a lot about the car, the circuits and working with the engineers. On some tracks I am fast and on others I am three tenths slower, but that is why we test, and we are on the right path.
Karl Massaad
These are just tests and we can’t conclude much, so we stay focused on our work and our goal for now is to learn. The last weeks were not easy. I had to adapt to many new things and lose 4 kg in one month because of my height.
Karl Massaad
Testing continues at Donington Park next week and at other circuits until the end of March. The 2017 British F4 season, which awards points towards an FIA Super Licence, starts in early April with 30 races over 10 rounds across five months.