Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
George Proudford-Nalder became the fourth different double polesitter from four British Formula 4 rounds as he took the top spot in qualifying on the Silverstone grand prix circuit.
The Virtuosi Racing driver was just 0.128s ahead of second place Theo Palmer, and the top 20 were separated by less than a second.
Proudford-Nalder spent most of the session at the sharp end of the field, but it wasn’t until the final stages that he took provisional pole position.
Before him, Ethan Jeff-Hall, Joseph Smith and Lewis Wherrell swapped positions at the top of the order. Wherrell managed to get the fastest lap down to 2m02.173s before being knocked off the top spot by Proudford-Nalder. Proudford-Nalder’s 2m01.886s was the first and only lap sub-2m02s.
Other drivers found improvements after Proudford-Nalder reached the top sport, but none would better his time.
With his final lap of the session, Palmer came closest, taking the chequered flag to jump up to P2. The improvement knocked Jeff-Hall down to P3 and Wherrel P4.
Dries van Langendonck had briefly been third, jumping up the order from outside the top 20 shortly after Proudford-Nalder took P1. But lap times quickly tumbled and the championship leader dropped to P6 overall, behind Adam Al Azhari and ahead of Jarrett Clark.
Third in the championship standings Scott Kin Lindblom had a more difficult time, qualifying P22, 1.013s off Proudford-Nalder’s pace.
Kit Belofsky qualified eighth, ahead of Smith and Timo Jungling, who fell back after running towards the top of the order early in the session.
Qualifying roundup
Race 1 grid
1 George Proudford-Nalder Virtuosi Racing 2m01.886s
2 Lewis Wherrell JHR Developments +0.218s
3 Theo Palmer Hitech +0.240s
4 Dries Van Langendonck Rodin Motorsport +0.419s
5 Ethan Jeff-Hall Argenti Motorsport +0.459s
6 Joseph Smith Virtuosi Racing +0.485s
7 Adam Al Azhari Hitech +0.489s
8 Jarrett Clark Virtuosi Racing +0.511s
9 Timo Jungling JHR Developments +0.545s
10 Jaber Alsabah Xcel Motorsport +0.628s
Race 3 grid
1 Proudford-Nalder 2m01.886s
2 Palmer +0.128s
3 Jeff-Hall +0.178s
4 Wherrell 0.203s
5 Al Azhari 0.228s
6 Van Langendonck +0.375s
7 Clark+0.487s
8 Kit Belofsky Fortec Motorsports +0.543s
9 Smith +0.548s
10 Jungling +0.575s