Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan took a double BRDC British Formula 3 pole position at Donington Park, utilising a tow on his fastest lap.
The 20-minute session took place without any rain, which was forecast for earlier in the morning, although the wind picked up gradually throughout.
The times improved consistently as the session, which went without incident, progressed but championship leader O’Sullivan was towards the top of the times during the whole of the session.
His quickest time came on his penultimate lap, utilising a tow from one of the other cars on the straight. His second-fastest time, which came with around seven minutes on the clock, was quickest enough for pole position in the second race of the weekend.
Behind O’Sullivan, Bart Horsten was second quickest, just 16 thousandths of a second behind, while Alex Connor, who was originally absent from this weekend’s entry list, was third fastest.
Connor’s new Arden team-mate Roman Bilinksi was fourth fastest on his debut, just ahead of Javier Sagrera.
Reece Ushijima, Tom Lebbon, Christian Mansell, Roberto Faria and Dexter Patterson rounded out the top 10, just over six tenths of a second away from pole position.
Argenti Motorsport’s Reema Juffali was slowest of the 17 runners, just behind Max Marzorati, and will start the final race of the weekend from pole position.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 1m24.690s
2 Bart Hortsten Hitech +0.016s
3 Alex Connor Arden +0.236s
4 Roman Bilinski Arden +0.259s
5 Javer Sagrera Elite +0.261s
6 Reece Ushijima Hitech +0.333s
7 Tom Lebbon Elite +0.408s
8 Christian Mansell Carlin +0.539s
9 Roberto Faria Fortec +0.600s
10 Dexter Patterson Douglas +0.605s
Race 2 grid
1 O’Sullivan 1m24.757s
2 Connor +0.192s
3 Horsten +0.297s
4 Ushijima +0.306s
5 Sagrera +0.372s
6 Bilinski +0.429s
7 Lebbon +0.524s
8 Faria +0.592s
9 Mansell +0.657s
10 Patterson +0.723s