Oldfield’s Josh Smith starts FFord Festival return with heat three pole

Photo: Ida Wood

Oldfield Motorsport’s Josh Smith took pole for the third Formula Ford Festival heat at Brands Hatch in a tricky qualifying session.

The rain had stopped before qualifying began, and the track breifly dried as more than 20 cars took to it and displaced the water from the racing line in many areas.

But after three-and-a-half minutes of the 12-minute session time the rain returned and by the halfway point it was coming down hard but there was also a tailwind down the pit straight.

Smith led team-mate Spencer Shinner at first, then the latter moved ahead with a 1m02.173s. Team Dolan’s Jason Smyth displaced him from top spot with a 1m01.889s, which Smith then beat with a 1m01.753s. B-M Racing’s Jonny McMullan briefly went third fastest before being beaten by Simon Hadfield Motorsport’s Tom McArthur in a Van Diemen RF90.

McArthur and Smyth improved as the session reached its halfway mark, the latter provisionally putting himself on pole, and Don Hardman Racing’s FF1600 veteran Rick Morris put in a great lap to go third before the rain made it difficult to go faster.

A 1m01.422s from McArthur moved him onto the front row with five minutes to go, and Smith made a small gain in third.

It looked like the battle for pole had been settled, but with a minute left Smith set a 1m01.117s and snatched away pole by 0.035s.

McArthur and Shinner ended qualifying in third and fourth, ahead of Morris.

Dolan’s Jonathan Kotyk and Graham Brunton Racing’s Callum Baxter were also late improvers, but were only ninth and 11th fastest.

Heat 3 qualifying results