Home Formula 4British F4 Priaulx takes first British F4 pole at Brands Hatch, Hoggard tops race three grid

Priaulx takes first British F4 pole at Brands Hatch, Hoggard tops race three grid

by Ida Wood

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Arden’s Seb Priaulx took his first British Formula 4 pole in the final qualifying session of the season at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

The Guernsey native won on British F4’s last visit to Brands Hatch on the Indy layout, and marked his return with a near double pole.

He set his fastest lap right at the end, toppling Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard from top spot by 0.074 seconds. Hoggard’s second best lap was marginally better than Priaulx’s though, meaning he will line up from pole for the final race of the weekend.

Double R Racing’s Paavo Tonteri threatened both of them at the top, and was the early pacesetter, but failed to improve late on and ended up in third place, two tenths of a second behind.

Priaulx’s team-mate Patrik Pasma was fourth, another challenger for pole but guilty of breaking track limits and having his best time deleted on occasion.

Title rivals Kiern Jewiss and Ayrton Simmons battled over fifth, with Jewiss sliding down the order as the session went on and Simmons going the other way. They were separated by just 0.01 seconds on second best times, with Jewiss starting ahead on both grids. To keep the title fight going, JHR Developments driver Simmons has to finish fourth in the first race of the weekend as an absolute minimum, even if Double R’s Jewiss scores no points.

Simmons’ team-mate Manuel Sulaiman qualified seventh for both races, with Arden’s Red Bull Junior Team duo Dennis Hauger and Jack Doohan in eighth and ninth.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Seb Priaulx Arden 1m25.822s
2 Johnathan Hoggard Fortec Motorsports +0.074s
3 Paavo Tonteri Double R Racing +0.259s
4 Patrik Pasma Arden +0.462s
5 Kiern Jewiss Double R Racing +0.516s
6 Ayrton Simmons JHR Developments +0.585s
7 Manuel Sulaiman JHR Developments +0.714s
8 Dennis Hauger Arden +0.751s
9 Jack Doohan Arden +0.846s
10 Sebastian Alvarez Double R Racing +0.978s

Race 3 grid
1 Hoggard 1m25.955s
2 Priaulx +0.094s
3 Tonteri +0.133s
4 Pasma +0.333s
5 Jewiss +0.479s
6 Simmons +0.489s
7 Sulaiman +0.642s
8 Hauger +0.679s
9 Doohan +0.790s
10 Lucca Allen Fortec Motorsports +0.964s