Carlin’s Kaylen Frederick and Hitech GP’s Kush Maini took a pole each for BRDC British Formula 3’s first visit of the year to Donington Park.
Times improved significantly through to the midpoint of the 20-minute session, and also got better slightly towards the end.
Frederick was among the quickest throughout and put in his best lap towards the end to secure pole for Saturday’s race.
With second-best times determining the grid for Sunday’s third race, Frederick will find himself starting fourth. Maini takes his and the debuting Hitech’s team’s first pole in the series.
Maini was only fourth fastest in terms of overall times, but his second-best lap was close enough to his first to take him to the top of that order. It is his first pole ever in single-seater racing.
Double R Racing’s Louis Foster will line up second for both races, while Hitech’s Reece Ushijima put in a very late lap to vault up to third for the Saturday race. On second-best times he starts mid-pack.
Lanan Racing’s Bart Horsten lost out on a lot of pre-event test mileage due to a crash that required lengthy repairs, but he recovered well to qualify fifth and third. His team-mate Piers Prior was only slightly slower in seventh place.
Kiern Jewiss was the only Douglas Motorsport driver to qualify in the top 10, and will start races one and three from sixth and fifth.
The session went largely without incident, although JHR Developments’ first series appearance wasn’t trouble free. Carter Williams came to a halt on track on his series debut with the team, and while his car was cleared away without issue it does mean he starts his first ever races from the lower end of the grid.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Kaylen Frederick Carlin 1m25.085s
2 Louis Foster Double R Racing +0.087s
3 Reece Ushijima Hitech GP +0.106s
4 Kush Maini Hitech GP +0.157s
5 Bart Horsten Lanan Racing +0.200s
6 Kiern Jewiss Douglas Motorsport +0.290s
7 Piers Prior Lanan Racing +0.337s
8 Josh Skelton Chris Dittmann Racing +0.347s
9 Benjamin Pedersen Double R Racing +0.395s
10 Sasakorn Chaimongkol Hillspeed +0.396s
Race 3 grid
1 Maini 1m25.243s
2 Foster +0.007s
3 Horsten +0.100s
4 Frederick +0.153s
5 Jewiss +0.182s
6 Skelton +0.252s
7 Prior +0.308s
8 Pedersen +0.329s
9 Chaimongkol +0.334s
10 Nazim Azman Carlin +0.343s