Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
British Formula 4 leader Deagan Fairclough secured a double pole position on a wet Donington Park circuit ahead of Rowan Campbell-Pilling.
Three red flags interrupted running during the 20-minute session, including one just before the chequered flag. Each stoppage only allowed the track conditions to get even more slippery before the field went back out, and there were few improvements in the second half of the session.
Fairclough spent most of qualifying at the top of the order. He was briefly passed by Alex Ninovic, but was able to improve on his fastest lap. The championship leader was top of the order when the first red flag was brought out by James Higgins with nine minutes remaining.
A second stoppage came five minutes after running had resumed when Reza Seewooruthun put his car in the gravel. There was time for two flying laps when the track went green again, but few people found any improvements. The session came to a close nine seconds early when Yuhao Fu ran off at the Esses.
Over the course of qualifying Fairclough lowered his fastest lap time to 1m42.635s, 0.766s clear of Campbell-Pilling in second. Campbell-Pilling was unable to improve on his fastest lap, and nobody else could get closer to the Hitech driver.
Ella Lloyd took third quickest ahead of Ninovic, who managed to improve on his final flying lap of the session. The late improvement meant he placed third on the grid for race one, determined by second fastest lap times.
Yuanpu Cui was fifth fastest overall, ahead of Leo Robinson and Kai Daryanani. Zack Scoular, Jack Sherwood and Higgins rounded out the top 10.
There are four races on the schedule this weekend, the second of which has been rescheduled from April’s rain-hit opening round on the Donington national layout. The grid for that is set according to the qualifying results from that weekend with Ninovic to start on pole.
Qualifying round-up
Race 4 grid
1 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP 1m42.635s
2 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Argenti Motorsport +0.766s
3 Ella Lloyd JHR Developments +1.074s
4 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +1.160s
5 Yuanpu Cui Argenti Motorsport +1.231s
6 Leo Robinson JHR Developments +1.275s
7 Kai Daryanani Fortec Motorsport +2.120s
8 Zack Scoular Xcel Motorsport +2.197s
9 Jack Sherwood Rodin Motorsport +2.291s
10 James Higgins Rodin Motorsport +2.521s
Race 1 grid
1 Fairclough 1m43.195s
2 Campbell-Pilling +0.757s
3 Ninovic +0.816s
4 Cui +1.041s
5 Robinson +1.589s
6 Daryanani +1.597s
7 Lloyd +1.635s
8 Scoular +1.761s
9 Higgins +2.016s
10 Reza Seewooruthun Hitech GP +2.209s