Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor scored a double pole by topping GB4 qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
The Australian was 0.1 seconds faster than impressive debutant Arjen Kraling, who matched his pre-event testing result with the second quickest time for Douglas Motorsport.
Elite Motorsport’s Isaac Phelps led the field out of the pitlane at the start of the 15-minute session, and he used a clear track in front of him to set the early pace with a 2m02.681s.
Taylor and Arden’s Leon Wilson both shaved time off that benchmark before Phelps reclaimed the advantage with his next effort.
Fortec’s Thomas Ingram Hill was next to take over top spot, pipping Phelps by 0.024 seconds, while Taylor and Wilson improved into third and fourth.
Alex Kattoulas lowered the pace to a 2m01.408s, and Elite team-mate Ary Bansal climbed six places to fourth with his next effort.
Taylor set his pole-winning lap of 2m02.221s in the closing stages, as Wilson moved up to second and Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard improved to fourth.
When the chequered flag fell, Kraling surged up to second to snatch a front row starting spot for his first GB4 race and only his second weekend in single-seaters.
Wilson ended up third ahead of Kattoulas and Coulthard, while Ingram Hill was sixth despite having a late effort deleted for exceeding track limits.
Having tumbled out of the top 10, Phelps made a late improvement to seventh, two places ahead of fellow title contender Bansal.
Hillspeed’s points leader Daniel Guinchard pitted with an issue in the closing stages and ended up 17th, while his team-mate Leandro Juncos wias eighth.
Taylor also took pole for race two based on second-best laptimes, with Kattoulas second ahead of Wilson, Ingram Hill, Phelps and Kraling. Guinchard will start that contest from 21st.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Jack Taylor Fortec 2m02.221s
2 Arjen Kraling Douglas Motorsport +0.100s
3 Leon Wilson Arden +0.103s
4 Alex Kattoulas Elite Motorsport +0.107s
5 Dayton Coulthard Douglas Motorsport + 0.343s
6 Thomas Ingram Hill Fortec +0.371s
7 Isaac Phelps Elite Motorsport + 0.388s
8 Leandro Juncos Hillspeed +0.471s
9 Ary Bansal Elite Motorsport +05.18s
10 Stefan Bostandjiev Pace Performance +0.574s
Race 2 grid
1 Taylor 2m01.284s
2 Kattoulas +0.124s
3 Wilson +0.182s
4 Ingram Hill +0.409s
5 Phelps +0.448s
6 Kraling +0.452s
7 Coulthard + 0.548s
8 Jason Pribyl ADM +0.606s
9 Josh McLean Pace Performance +0.665s
10 Bansal +0.710s