Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Hitech GP’s Reza Seewooruthun was fastest in British Formula 4 qualifying on Silverstone’s full Grand Prix layout to claim his maiden pole position.
Rainfall before the session meant the track was still drying as qualifying began, but it was dry enough for slick tyres. The conditions caught out a few drivers in the opening laps, but most of the field were able to keep their cars on track and the session ran green throughout.
JHR Developments’ Joel Berstrom set the pace early on, ahead of team-mate Chloe Chong and Chris Dittmann Racing’s series returnee Carrie Schreirer.
Bergstrom and Chong had a gap of over two seconds to the rest of the field, but it was not long before laptimes began to tumble as the grip levels improved.
Seewooruthun and Rodin Motorport pair Jack Sherwood and James Higgins swapped fastest laps, gradually lowering the earlier benchmark by four seconds.
When the chequered flag waved, Seewooruthun led the way with a 2m10.932s, 0.078 seconds ahead of Sherwood.
Hitech’s championship leader Deagen Fairclough was third fastest, ahead of Higgins and his team-mate Alex Ninovic, but claimed pole for race one where the grid is set off drivers’ second-best laptimes from qualifying.
His 2m11.538s was 0.184s slower than his best lap, and over a second faster than anyone else’s second-best efforts. Seewooruthun, Higgins and Sherwood will fill the first two rows behind him for race one, with Ninovic qualifying fifth having been 1.943s slower than Fairclough.
Virtuosi Racing’s Maxwell Dodds was sixth fastest overall ahead of Argenti Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling, who will start sixth for race one. Argenti team-mate Yuanpu Cui and CDR’s Bart Harrison fill the two grid slots immediately behind him for both races one and three.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP 2m11.538s
2 Reza Seewooruthun Hitech GP +1.098s
3 James Higgins Rodin Motorsport +1.108s
4 Jack Sherwood Rodin Motorsport +1.220s
5 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +1.943s
6 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Argenti Motorsport +2.089s
7 Yuanpu Cui Argenti Motorsport +2.911s
8 Bart Harrison Chris Dittmann Racing +3.180s
9 Maxwell Dodds Virtuosi Racing +3.349s
10 Joel Bergstrom JHR Developments +3.370s
Race 3 grid
1 Seewoooruthun 2m10.932s
2 Sherwood +0.078s
3 Fairclough +0.422s
4 Higgins +0.818s
5 Ninovic +1.970s
6 Dodds +2.341s
7 Campbell-Pilling +2.576s
8 Cui +2.596s
9 Harrison +2.627s
10 Bergstrom +3.219s