Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Deagen Fairclough secured his first two GB3 poles during qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
The Hitech GP driver maintained his pre-event test-topping form to beat Rodin Motorsport’s Martin Molnar by 0.182s in Q1, and he then denied Xcel Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling a maiden pole in the final seconds of Q2 by 0.187s.
Fairclough set an early 1m50.725s benchmark in Q1 to lead Rodin’s Maxim Rehm by almost 0.4 seconds. Xcel’s Lucas Fluxa soon lowered the pace to 1m50.633s, but the Spaniard was almost immediately edged by Elite Motorsport’s Flynn Jackes while Molnar climbed to third – the trio separated by 0.067s.
Campbell-Pilling took over at top with a 1m50.460s before Molnar beat his time by 0.166s, and Fluxa then reduced the deficit to 0.015s.
But it was Fairclough’s 1m50.112s effort with three minutes remaining which proved good enough to secure his first pole ahead of Molnar and Fluxa, while Rodin’s Abbi Pulling made a late improvement to grab fourth.
Campbell-Pilling slipped to fifth, and Jackes pipped Rehm to sixth by 0.504s. Meanwhile, championship leader Nikita Bedrin struggled to the 11th fastest time, the Velocity Racing driver ending up over 1s off the pace.
Jackes led the early stages of Q2 with a 1m50.749s before Fairclough lowered the pace by 0.5s
Campbell-Pilling moved into first with a 1m50.042s before improving further to 1m50.010s to lead Fluxa by 0.126s. Fluxa briefly moved ahead by 0.109s, only for Campbell-Pilling to restore his advantage by posting a 1m49.855s to four minutes to go.
Having initially sat close behind the Xcel duo in third, Fairclough was relegated to sixth in the final seconds of the session, but then responded with a 1m49.714s as he took the chequered flag to snatch race two pole. Campbell-Pilling still recorded his best qualifying results with second, while Fluxa repeated his Q1 result in third.
Molnar also improved with his final effort to leapfrog ahead of Rehm and Bedrin into fourth, and the latter was further relegated to seventh by his team-mate Patricio Gonzalez.
Italian F4 race-winner Edu Robinson received a late-call up by Elite for his GB3 debut, and he is due to start race three from reversed-grid pole, having qualified 14th and 12th for the first two contests.
Qualifying results
Race 1 grid
1 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP 1m50.112s
2 Martin Molnar Rodin Motorsport +0.182s
3 Lucas Fluxa Xcel Motorsport +0.197s
4 Abbi Pulling Rodin Motorsport 0.328s
5 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Xcel Motorsport +0.348s
6 Flynn Jackes Elite Motorsport 0.494s
7 Maxim Rehm Rodin Motorsport +0.504s
8 Patricio Gonzalez Velocity Racing Development +0.623s
9 Jacob McAllef Hitech GP +0.831s
10 Kyoho Lee Elite Motorsport +0.863s
Race 2 grid
1 Fairclough 1m49.714s
2 Campbell-Pilling +0.141s
3 Fluxa +0.187s
4 Molnar +0.285s
5 Rehm +0.309s
6 Gonzalez +0.378s
7 Nikita Bedrin Velocity Racing Development +0.380s
8 Pulling +0.637s
9 Leon Wilson Arden +0.684s
10 Micallef +0.697s