Photo: BRDC F4
Mectech Motorsport’s Connor Jupp claimed his maiden pole in junior single-seaters in a close first qualifying for the BRDC F4 Winter Series finale at Brands Hatch.
The 17-year-old Brit edged out Gaetano di Mauro by just 0.01s under light rain, narrowly denying the Brazilian a third consecutive pole.
With improvements becoming few and far between in the last minutes as the rain intensified, Jupp wouldn’t need any further improvements to see the checkered flag in first place.
Having led most of the session early on, di Mauro would have to do with a front row start.
Another tenth down, Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s practice pacesetter Jordan Albert claimed third, narrowly beating Douglas Motorsport’s Rodrigo Fonseca.
Championship leader Will Palmer fought for the top spots in the first half of the qualifying, but ended up down in fifth. His HHC squadmate Zubair Hoque will start a row behind in seventh, with Fernando Urrutia splitting the two in sixth.
Enzo Bortoleto and series newcomer Paul Sieljes completed the order.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Connor Jupp | Mectech Motorsport | 55.364 | 21 | |
| 2 | Gaetano di Mauro | PetroBall | 55.374 | 0.010 | 21 |
| 3 | Jordan Albert | Sean Walkinshaw Racing | 55.485 | 0.121 | 21 |
| 4 | Rodrigo Fonseca | Douglas Motorsport | 55.515 | 0.151 | 20 |
| 5 | Will Palmer | HHC Motorsport | 55.631 | 0.267 | 21 |
| 6 | Fernando Urrutia | Sean Walkinshaw Racing | 56.018 | 0.654 | 20 |
| 7 | Zubair Hoque | HHC Motorsport | 56.151 | 0.787 | 20 |
| 8 | Enzo Bortoleto | PetroBall | 56.630 | 1.266 | 20 |
| 9 | Paul Sieljes | Chris Dittmann Racing | 57.476 | 2.112 | 20 |