Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Douglas Motorsport’s Tymek Kucharcyzk continued his strong form from pre-event testing to dominate a wet and blustery GB3 qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
Light rain before the start of the 20-minute session necessitated use of wet-weather tyres, and it was JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees that initially set the pace with a 2m10.803s before his laptime was deleted for exceeding track limits.
Kucharczyk moved to the top with a 2m12.390s but Rees made his next lap count to go fastest with a 2m09.948s. Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne climbed to second before the red flags were shown at the halfway stage after Hillspeed’s Daniel Mavlyutov spun to halt on the exit of Brooklands.
John Bennett led the field out at the resumption, and the Rodin Carlin driver took advantage of a clear track in front of him to move up to second before Kucharczyk lit up the timesheet to go fastest by 0.8 seconds with a 2m09.141s.
Kucharczyk caught traffic on his next lap and did not improve further, while Rees moved back up to second ahead Voisin.
Bennett snatched the advantage on his final lap with a 2m09.104s, but Kucharczyk immediately responded to claim pole for race one with a 2m08.839s, with his previous best good enough to secure pole for race two.
Dunne, another to improve on his final lap, was third behind Bennett, whose team-mate Costa Toparis also utilised a clear track to take fourth. The trio will start from the same positions in both races one and two.
Points leader Joseph Loake pipped team-mate Rees to fifth despite the pair setting an identical time, with Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell seventh and Voisin eighth. Fortec Motorsport’s Jarrod Waberski was ninth, the South African’s second fastest lap good enough for fifth on the grid for race two.
Zak Taylor was 10th for Chris Dittmann Racing ahead of Arden VRD duo Nico Christodoulou and James Hedley.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Timoteusz Kucharczyk Douglas Motorsport 2m08.839s
2 John Bennett Carlin +0.265s
3 Alex Dunne Hitech GP +0.289s
4 Costa Toparis Carlin +0.465s
5 Joseph Loake JHR Developments +0.719s
6 Matthew Rees JHR Developments +0.719s
7 McKenzy Cresswell Elite Motorsport +0.750s
8 Callum Voisin Carlin +0.796s
9 Jarrod Waberski Fortec Motorsports +0.892s
10 Zak Taylor Chris Dittmann Racing +0.958s
Race 2 grid
1 Kucharczyk 2m09.141s
2 Bennett +0.271s
3 Dunne +0.273s
4 Toparis +0.626s
5 Waberski +0.680s
6 Rees +0.807s
7 Voisin +0.845s
8 Cresswell +1.316s
9 Taylor +1.411s
10 Nico Christodoulou Arden VRD +1.766s