Kevin Mills Racing’s Jordan Dempsey boosted his hopes of winning the BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 title by taking pole in qualifying at the season’s final round at Donington Park.
Ammonite Motorsport’s Colin Queen led for most of the 15-minute session, but a late effort ensured points leader Dempsey ended fastest.
Queen set an early benchmark of 1m40.450s before improving to 1m39.393s to lead two-time FFord Festival winner Niall Murray, who was a late addition to the entry list for Team Dolan.
Dempsey then moved into second, 0.016 seconds behind Queen, before topping the times with a 1m39.247s two minutes before the end of qualifying. Queen improved late on but had to settle for second by 0.101s, with Murray remaining in third.
Ammonite’s Shawn Rashid, who took a maiden win last time out, was 0.033s behind Murray in fourth, with his team-mate Andre Lafond fifth.
Lucas Romanek was sixth for Oldfield Motorsport ahead of B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp. FF1600 returnees Michael Eastwell (KMR) and Joey Foster (Don Hardman Racing) were eighth and ninth, with B-M’s Rory Smith completing the top 10.
Callum Grant was fastest in a separate qualifying session for FFord’s Northern & Super Classic championship in a Van Diemen RF91 with a time of 1m42.241s.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Dempsey | Kevin Mills Racing | 1m39.247s | 9 | |
| 2 | Colin Queen | Ammonite Motorsport | 1m39.348s | +0.101s | 9 |
| 3 | Niall Murray | Team Dolan | 1m39.601s | +0.354s | 9 |
| 4 | Shawn Rashid | Ammonite Motorsport | 1m39.634s | +0.387s | 9 |
| 5 | Andre Lafond | Ammonite Motorsport | 1m39.775s | +0.528s | 9 |
| 6 | Lucas Romanek | Oldfield Motorsport | 1m39.942s | +0.695s | 8 |
| 7 | Jamie Sharp | B-M Racing | 1m40.016s | +0.769s | 9 |
| 8 | Michael Eastwell | Kevin Mills Racing | 1m40.572s | +1.325s | 8 |
| 9 | Joey Foster | Don Hardman Racing | 1m40.625s | +1.378s | 9 |
| 10 | Rory Smith | B-M Racing | 1m40.676s | +1.429s | 9 |
| 11 | Morgan Quinn | Team Dolan | 1m40.765s | +1.518s | 9 |
| 12 | Brandon McCaughan | Oldfield Motorsport | 1m40.899s | +1.652s | 8 |
| 13 | Tom McArthur | B-M Racing | 1m40.907s | +1.660s | 9 |
| 14 | David McArthur | B-M Racing | 1m40.954s | +1.707s | 9 |
| 15 | Tom Nippers | 1m41.298s | +2.051s | 9 | |
| 16 | Brindley Kinch | Ammonite Motorsport | 1m41.481s | +2.234s | 9 |
| 17 | Gabe Tesch | Team Dolan | 1m42.074s | +2.827s | 9 |
| 18 | Tom Hawkins | Springbridge Motorsport | 1m43.061s | +3.814s | 9 |
| 19 | Vincent Jay | TM Racing | 1m43.633s | +4.386s | 8 |