Photo: Hitech GP
Thomas Bearman and Rowan Campbell-Pilling claimed their maiden British Formula 4 poles in qualifying at Knockhill.
A red flag period caused by series newcomer Guy Albag disrupted running midway through the session. Despite many drivers putting on fresh tyres during the break, nobody could better Bearman’s benchmark 48.271s lap and he remained top of the order.
Laptimes tumbled rapidly during the first half of qualifying and first place was traded 13 times between eight drivers before Bearman moved into provisional pole position with a 48.403s. He usurped Hitech GP team-mate Fionn McLaughlin by 0.096 seconds.
Virtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar initially looked to be on top when red flags waved 10 minutes into the half-hour session. But his fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, as his previous best had been too, and several other drivers had the same occur to them.
That put Bearman into first place with his 48.403s lap, and after qualifying restarted he was bettered by JHR Developments’ Campbell-Pilling. He set a 48.383s, but Bearman was able to reclaim race three pole when he next crossed the line by improving to 48.271s.
Campbell-Pilling found more pace but was still 0.061s shy of Bearman with his best lap. However the lap that had briefly put him on top earned him race one pole, since it was the quickest of any driver’s second-best laptimes.
Argenti Motorsport’s Ethan Jeff-Hall was third fastest overall, 0.159s off Bearman and just 0.03s ahead of McLaughlin and 0.039s clear of Molnar in the timesheet. Fortec Motorsports’ Ary Bansal was sixth, and team-mate Henry Joslyn was the last driver within half a second of pole down in 15th. Little over 0.8s covered the whole 23-car field.
On second-best laptimes, Campbell-Pilling clinched pole by 0.02s over Bearman and was 0.078s faster than Jeff-Hall, with championship leader McLaughlin 0.108s off pole in fourth. Bansal and Rodin Motorsport’s James Piszyck were next up, with Molnar in seventh. Although his deficit to pole was a small 0.206s, had he been 0.08s slower he would have qualified outside of the top 10.
Additioinal reporting by Ida Wood
Qualifying round-up
Race 3 grid
1 Thomas Bearman Hitech GP 48.271s
2 Rowan Campbell-Pilling JHR Developments +0.061s
3 Ethan Jeff-Hall Argenti Motorsport +0.159s
4 Fionn McLaughlin Hitech GP +0.189s
5 Martin Molnar Virtuosi Racing +0.198s
6 Ary Bansal Fortec Motorsports +0.244s
7 James Piszcyk Rodin Motorsport +0.273s
8 Tommy Harfield Chris Dittmann Racing +0.286s
9 Theo Palmer Xcel Motorsport +0.306s
10 Chase Fernandez Xcel Motorsport +0.351s
Race 1 grid
1 Campbell-Pilling 48.383s
2 Bearman +0.020s
3 Jeff-Hall +0.078s
4 McLaughlin +0.108s
5 Bansal +0.167s
6 Piszyck +0.188s
7 Molnar +0.206s
8 Adam Al Azhari Rodin Motorsport +0.269s
9 Palmer +0.269s
10 Fernandez +0.279s