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Tom Gamble takes British F3 pole in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps

by Ida Wood

Tom Gamble took his second BRDC British Formula 3 pole of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.

Gamble, who currently lies fourth in the standings with Fortec Motorsports, beat championship leader Linus Lundqvist by 0.080 seconds around the Belgian Grand Prix track, with Gamble’s team-mate Manuel Maldonado getting his best qualifying result to date in third.

Championship debutant Ayrton Simmons qualified an impressive fourth for Chris Dittmann Racing, less than a tenth-and-a-half off pole, and set the same time as Carlin’s Billy Monger. As Simmons set the time first, he was awarded the higher starting slot.

Local driver Max Defourny marked his arrival from Formula Renault Eurocup with sixth place, just two tenths off the pace and with a further tenth covering sixth to ninth.

Lundqvist’s Double R Racing team-mate Krishnaraaj Mahadik was just 0.002s slower than Defourny in seventh, with Hillspeed’s Jusuf Owega and Carlin’s Sun Yue Yang just behind. Kush Maini completed the top 10 for Lanan Racing.

Jamie Caroline had a disappointing return to the Carlin team, having won the British Formula 4 title with them last year, qualifying a lowly 14th.

 

Qualifying results
Pos Name Team Time
1 Tom Gamble Fortec Motorsports 2m18.857s
2 Linus Lundqvist Double R Racing +0.080s
3 Manuel Maldonado Fortec Motorsports +0.095s
4 Ayrton Simmons Chris Dittmann Racing +0.142s
5 Billy Monger Carlin +0.142s
6 Max Defourny Douglas Motorsport +0.204s
7 Krishnaraaj Mahadik Double R Racing +0.206s
8 Jusuf Owega Hillspeed +0.224s
9 Sun Yue Yang Carlin +0.294s
10 Kush Maini Lanan Racing +0.362s
11 Sasakorn Chaimongkol Hillspeed +0.393s
12 Nicolai Kjaergaard Carlin +0.452s
13 Tristan Charpentier Fortec Motorsports +0.540s
14 Jamie Caroline Carlin +0.547s
15 Pavan Ravishankar Double R Racing +0.791s
16 Jamie Chadwick Douglas Motorsport +0.850s
17 Arvin Esmaeili Douglas Motorsport +2.512s
18 Joshua Mason Lanan Racing +2.530s
19 Ben Hurst Hillspeed +2.659s