Tom Gamble took his second BRDC British Formula 3 pole of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.
Gamble, who currently lies fourth in the standings with Fortec Motorsports, beat championship leader Linus Lundqvist by 0.080 seconds around the Belgian Grand Prix track, with Gamble’s team-mate Manuel Maldonado getting his best qualifying result to date in third.
Championship debutant Ayrton Simmons qualified an impressive fourth for Chris Dittmann Racing, less than a tenth-and-a-half off pole, and set the same time as Carlin’s Billy Monger. As Simmons set the time first, he was awarded the higher starting slot.
Local driver Max Defourny marked his arrival from Formula Renault Eurocup with sixth place, just two tenths off the pace and with a further tenth covering sixth to ninth.
Lundqvist’s Double R Racing team-mate Krishnaraaj Mahadik was just 0.002s slower than Defourny in seventh, with Hillspeed’s Jusuf Owega and Carlin’s Sun Yue Yang just behind. Kush Maini completed the top 10 for Lanan Racing.
Jamie Caroline had a disappointing return to the Carlin team, having won the British Formula 4 title with them last year, qualifying a lowly 14th.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Gamble | Fortec Motorsports | 2m18.857s |
| 2 | Linus Lundqvist | Double R Racing | +0.080s |
| 3 | Manuel Maldonado | Fortec Motorsports | +0.095s |
| 4 | Ayrton Simmons | Chris Dittmann Racing | +0.142s |
| 5 | Billy Monger | Carlin | +0.142s |
| 6 | Max Defourny | Douglas Motorsport | +0.204s |
| 7 | Krishnaraaj Mahadik | Double R Racing | +0.206s |
| 8 | Jusuf Owega | Hillspeed | +0.224s |
| 9 | Sun Yue Yang | Carlin | +0.294s |
| 10 | Kush Maini | Lanan Racing | +0.362s |
| 11 | Sasakorn Chaimongkol | Hillspeed | +0.393s |
| 12 | Nicolai Kjaergaard | Carlin | +0.452s |
| 13 | Tristan Charpentier | Fortec Motorsports | +0.540s |
| 14 | Jamie Caroline | Carlin | +0.547s |
| 15 | Pavan Ravishankar | Double R Racing | +0.791s |
| 16 | Jamie Chadwick | Douglas Motorsport | +0.850s |
| 17 | Arvin Esmaeili | Douglas Motorsport | +2.512s |
| 18 | Joshua Mason | Lanan Racing | +2.530s |
| 19 | Ben Hurst | Hillspeed | +2.659s |