Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Rodin Carlin Louis Sharp took a double pole position to start the 2023 British Formula 4 season at Donington Park.
Sharp beat team-mates Noah Lisle and Dion Gowda to the top of the times, ending qualifying with a fastest lap of 1m04.477s.
Gowda set the pace early on and became the first driver to set a time sub-1m05s. He remained comfortably at the top of the order for most of the session before a flying lap from Sharp knocked him back to second place.
The pair swapped fastest laps multiple times before Lisle joined the battle. The Australian beat his benchmark laptime from Thursday practice with a 1m04.527s effort, then set another flying lap which secured his position at the top of the second-fastest lap chart which sets the grid for race one.
The fastest laps set the race three grid, and race two’s grid uses a reversed order from those laptimes.
Sharp managed to find more time on his final lap of qualifying, crossing the line with nine seconds left on the clock and setting a time 0.050 seconds quicker than Lisle. His second-fastest lap was enough to put him on pole for race one.
Moments after Sharp crossed the line, red flags were waved after an incident for Patrick Heuzenroeder and the session was not resumed. Gowda qualified third for both races one and three, behind Lisle.
Chris Dittman Racing’s Daniel Guinchard was fourth fastest, ahead of Virtuosi Racing’s Aqil Alibi.
Fortec Motorsports duo James Higgins and Aiden Neate qualified sixth and seventh, ahead of ROKiT Racing Star contest winner Deagen Fairclough – making his single-seater racing debut – and Jack Sherwood.
Gabriel Stilp was the quickest driver eligible for rookie honours in 10th, while Isaac Barashi qualified last and therefore gets pole for the reversed-grid race two.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid (second-fastest laps)
1 Louis Sharp Carlin 1m04.533s
2 Noah Lisle Carlin +0.028s
3 Dion Gowda Carlin +0.097s
4 Daniel Guinchard Chris Dittmann Racing +0.131s
5 James Higgins Fortec Motorsports +0.381s
6 Aiden Neate Fortec Motorsports +0.415s
7 Deagen Fairclough JHR Developments +0.488s
8 Aqil Alibhai Virtuosi Racing +0.496s
9 Gustav Jonsson Chris Dittmann Racing +0.523s
10 Jack Sherwood Chris Dittmann Racing +0.610s
Race 2 grid (reversed order of fastest laps)
1 Isaac Barashi Argenti Motorsport
2 Kai Daryanani Virtuosi Racing
3 Douwe Dedecker Virtuosi Racing
4 Jaden Pariat Argenti Motorsport
5 Sonny Smith Argenti Motorsport
6 James Piszcyk Hitech GP
7 Josh Irfan Carlin
8 William Macintyre Hitech GP
9 Patrick Heuzenroeder Argenti Motorsport
10 Jonsson
Race 3 grid (fastest laps)
1 Sharp 1m04.477s
2 Lisle +0.050s
3 Gowda +0.127s
4 Guinchard +0.168s
5 Alibhai +0.328s
6 Higgins +0.368s
7 Neate +0.376s
8 Fairclough +0.414s
9 Sherwood +0.439s
10 Gabriel Stilp Hitech GP +0.442s