Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
McKenzy Cresswell continued his form from pre-event testing by topping GB3 qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
The Elite Motorsport driver set two laps quick enough to take pole for the first two races of the weekend, with Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp due to start alongside him in both contests.
Cresswell set an opening benchmark of 1m58.615s in the 20-minute session to initially to lead team-mates Hugo Schwarze and Jarrod Waberski, but after improving on his next lap he was edged to top spot by Waberski who posted a 1m53.595s.
Sharp stayed out for an extra flying lap as several drivers headed for the pitlane, and the New Zealander went fastest by almost 0.5 seconds with a 1m53.122s.
After returning to track in the final five minutes, Cresswell reclaimed first place by 0.189s, and he extended his advantage twice more before the chequered flag fell, recording a fastest lap of 1m52.703s.
Sharp improved in the closing stages but ended the session 0.209s shy of race pole, and his race two pole deficit was 0.110s based on drivers’ second-best times.
Waberski also went quicker in the closing stages but was demoted to fourth by JHR Developments’ John Bennett, and the pair were then pipped by Hitech GP’s Gerrard Xie who leapt up to third on his final effort.
Xie’s team-mate Tymek Kucharczyk also made a last-lap improvement, but the championship leader had to settle for sixth ahead of Rodin’s returnee Ugo Ugochukwu.
Schwarze was shuffled back to eighth, with Velocity Racing Development by Arden duo Noah Ping and Shawn Rashid completing the top 10.
Title contender Will Macintyre was 18th quickest for Hitech, one place behind Formula Regional European Championship racer James Wharton who is competing for Fortec this weekend after taking part in pre-event testing. Also making a GB3 return is Marcus Luzio, and he ended the session 23rd for Hillspeed.
Qualifying results
Race 1 grid
1 McKenzy Cresswell Elite Motorsport 1m52.703s
2 Louis Sharp Rodin Motorsport +0.209s
3 Gerrard Xie Hitech GP +0.282s
4 John Bennett JHR Developments +0.328s
5 Jarrod Waberski Elite Motorsport +0.354s
6 Tymek Kucharczyk Hitech GP +0.525s
7 Ugo Ugochuwku Rodin Motorsport +0.742s
8 Hugo Schwarze Elite Motorsport +0.768s
9 Noah Ping VRD by Arden +0.798s
10 Shawn Rashid VRD by Arden +0.804s
Race 2 grid
1 Cresswell 1m52.814s
2 Sharp +0.110s
3 Bennett +0.313s
4 Waberski +0.335s
5 Kucharczyk +0.503s
6 Ugochukwu +0.699s
7 Schwarze +0.703s
8 Xie +0.818s
9 Rashid +0.818s
10 Seb Murray Chris Dittmann Racing +0.892s