Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Tom Mills edged Colin Queen in a tight GB4 qualifying at Donington Park to take pole for race one, while Queen took top spot for race two.
The 15-minute session was largely a two-way fight between KMR Sport’s Mills and Fortec Motorsports’ Queen, and it was the latter that set the early pace with a 1m29.006s lap.
Evans GP’s Cooper Webster briefly moved ahead before Queen reclaimed the advantage with a 1m28.164s, with Webster improving to within 0.056 seconds of the American.
Mills then surged to the front just past the halfway mark with a lap exactly 0.5s faster than Queen, who soon responded with an effort 0.038s shy of the pace.
Mills went quicker still on his next lap to extend his advantage before Queen displaced him at the top with a 1m27.394s. But moments later Mills posted a 1m27.250s to move ahead once more, with a further improvement from Queen not enough to claim race one pole.
Webster recorded a late effort to pip Elite Motorsport’s Harri Reynolds to third, with Reynolds team-mate Josh Irfan fifth. Less than 0.1s seconds separated Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly, who was sixth, and Fortec duo Aditya Kulkarni and Ruhaan Alva.
Queen secured pole for race two on Sunday based on drivers’ second fastest laptimes, with Mills second ahead of Webster and Alva.
Mills will start from pole twice on Saturday with the rescheduled encounter from the last round Silverstone preceding race one.
Qualifying results
Race 1
1 Tom Mills KMR Sport 1m27.250s
2 Colin Queen Fortec Motorsports +0.111s
3 Cooper Webster Evans GP + 0.314s
4 Harri Reynolds Elite Motorsport +0.572s
5 Josh Irfan Elite Motorsport +0.651s
6 Liam McNeilly Fox Motorsport + 0.700s
7 Aditya Kulkarni Fortec Motorsports +0.764s
8 Ruhaan Alva Fortec Motorsports +0.781s
9 Jeremy Fairbairn KMR Sport +0.920s
10 Kai Daryanani Evans GP +1.067s
Race 2
1 Queen 1m27.394s
2 Mills +0.174s
3 Webster +0.430s
4 Alva +0.643s
5 McNeilly +0.664s
6 Irfan +0.691s
7 Reynolds +0.739s
8 Fairbairn +0.870s
9 Daryanani +0.997s
10 Jack Clifford KMR Sport +1.039s