Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Oliver Gray claimed his first British Formula 4 pole positions in qualifying for round six at Thruxton.
At a circuit known for JHR Developments success, the quickest JHR driver could only manage fourth fastest, as championship leader Matthew Rees was knocked down the order.
Gray set the pace early in the session, but as lap times tumbled he dropped backwards. Eduardo Coseteng and Mattias Zagazeta both took turns at the top of the order, but it was Rees running fastest at the halfway mark with a 1m13.024s.
There was still time to be found and Gray became the first driver to set a sub-1m13s lap when he managed a 1m12.909s. It was a time that wouldn’t be beaten, though Zagazeta came to within two hundredths of a second in P2.
Coseteng slotted into third ahead of Rees and McKenzy Cresswell.
Abbi Pulling was running at the sharp end of the field early on but dropped back to sixth by the chequered flag, ahead of Joel Granfors and Joseph Loake.
Aiden Neate and Dougie Bolger rounded out the to 10.
Gray and Zagazeta will also form the front row of the grid for race three based on second-fastest times.
At the other end of the order, David Morales will take pole for the reversed-grid second race, with Kai Askey alongside and Marcos Flack in third.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Oliver Gray Fortec Motorsports 1m12.909s
2 Matias Zagazeta Argenti Motorsport +0.017s
3 Eduardo Coseteng Argenti Motorsport +0.090s
4 Matthew Rees JHR Developments +0.115s
5 McKenzy Cresswell JHR Developments +0.135s
6 Abbi Pulling JHR Developments +0.191s
7 Joel Granfors Fortec Motorsports +0.274s
8 Joseph Loake JHR Developments +0.384s
9 Aiden Neate Argenti Motorsport +0.429s
10 Dougie Bolger Carlin +0.463s
Race 3 grid
1 Gray 1m13.002s
2 Zagazeta +0.024s
3 Rees +0.117s
4 Cresswell +0.200s
5 Pulling +0.230s
6 Granfors +0.268s
7 Loake +0.311s
8 Coseteng +0.398s
9 Neate +0.515s
10 Zak Taylor Arden Motorsport +0.524s