Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Martin Molnar and Tommy Harfield share the British Formula 4 pole positions for round nine at Silverstone.
The two drivers were separated by just 0.040 seconds on overall timings, with Virtuosi Racing’s Molnar just quicker than the Chris Dittmann Racing’s Harfield. However, Harfield’s second fastest lap time was enough to put him on pole positon for the first race of the weekend by just 0.002s.
Before any driver could complete a lap of the Silverstone National circuit, an incident for Oleksandr Savinkov brought out the red flags. The session resumed with just over 22 minutes remaining, and stayed green until the end.
Fionn McLaughlin set the pace early on, but provisional pole position changed hands multiple times. Jimmy Piszcyk and Dries van Langendonck both took turns at the top of the order.
Molnar jumped to first with a time of 54.508s to take provisional pole just before the field returned to the pits to prepare for the final runs.
He then improved when he returned to the track, bettering his time by over 0.2s to end the session with a fastest lap of 54.318s. It was a time no driver could match, but four came within a tenth of a second of.
A late improvement from Harfield put him second, just ahead of McLaughlin, who was only 0.040s slower than Molnar.
Ary Bansal was the top Challenge Cup driver in fourth overall, 0.074s slower than Molnar. Van Langendonck was also within 0.1s of the fastest time as he placed fifth overall.
Piszcyk ended the session sixth, ahead of Henry Joslyn and Ella Lloyd. Problems for August Raber early in the session meant he was delayed getting back out after the early red flag. However, he managed to place 10th, just behind Ethan Jeff-Hall.
Adam Al Azhari was 12th overall, earning the reversed grid pole position for race two.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid – second fastest times
1 Tommy Harfield Chris Dittmann Racing 54.426s
2 Ary Bansal Fortec Motorsport +0.002s
3 Martin Molnar Virtuosi Racing +0.014s
4 Fionn McLaughlin Hitech +0.024s
5 Dries Van Langendonck Rodin Motorsport +0.036s
6 Ethan Jeff-Hall Argenti Motorsport +0.120s
7 Henry Joslyn Fortec Motorsport +0.147s
8 Jimmy Piszcyk Rodin Motorsport +0.156s
9 Rowan Campbell-Pilling JHR Developments +0.176s
10 Adam Al Azhari Rodin Motorsport +0.188s
Race 3 grid – fastest times
1 Molnar 54.318s
2 McLaughlin +0.040s
3 Bansal +0.074s
4 Harfield +0.091s
5 Van Langendonck +0.092s
6 Piszcyk +0.174s
7 Joslyn +0.192s
8 Ella Lloyd Rodin Motorsport +0.219s
9 Jeff-Hall +0.222s
10 August Raber Argenti Motorsport +0.229s