Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Hitech GP’s Reece Ushijima scored a brace of pole positions in BRDC British Formula 3 qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
Snatching top spot from Arden’s Frederick Lubin in the final seconds of the 20-minute session earned Ushijima his maiden pole, and he also took top spot for race two based on his second-best laptime.
Championship leader Zak O’Sullivan will line up alongside Ushijima for Saturday’s opener after also pipping Lubin, who will start from the front row in race two, on his final effort.
Fortec’s Roberto Faria, who topped the pre-event test, set the early pace before Carlin’s Christian Mansell bettered his benchmark.
Douglas Motorsport’s Dexter Patterson and Arden’s Alex Connor then had brief spells at the top before Mansell regained the advantage.
Horsten then moved the front with a few minutes remaining, before Ushijima went quickest by 0.3 seconds.
A couple of quick laps put Horsten back on top before Friday testing pacesetter Lubin went even faster.
But Ushijima took pole with 20 seconds remaining, with O’Sullivan moving up to second ahead of Lubin and Horsten.
Faria ended up fifth, with Elite Motorsport’s Javier Sagrera in sixth. Mansell and Patterson were seventh and eighth, ahead of Connor and Hitech’s Sebastian Alvarez. Several of the drivers in the top 10 had laptimes deleted during the session.
Chris Dittmann Racing’s Ayrton Simmons continued his struggles from testing, setting the 14th fastest time.
The qualifying order will be reversed in forming the grid for race three, with CDR’s Max Marzorati provisionally on pole.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Reece Ushijima Hitech GP 1m55.908s
2 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin +0.061s
3 Frederick Lubin Arden +0.133s
4 Bart Horsten Hitech GP +0.252s
5 Javier Sagrera Elite Motorsport +0.344s
6 Christian Mansell Carlin +0.347s
7 Dexter Patterson Douglas Motorsport +0.461s
8 Roberto Faria Fortec Motorsports +0.465s
9 Sebastian Alvarez Hitech GP +0.646s
10 Tom Lebbon Elite Motorsport +0.695s
Race 2 grid
1 Ushijima 1m55.954s
2 Lubin +0.182s
3 O’Sullivan +0.213s
4 Sagrera +0.301s
5 Mansell +0.451s
6 Faria +0.493s
7 Patterson +0.517s
8 Tom Lebbon Elite Motorsport +0.674s
9 Alex Connor Arden +0.714s
10 Alvarez +0.816s
Race 3 grid
1 Max Marzorati Chris Dittmann Racing
2 Reema Juffali Douglas Motorsport
3 Mikkel Grundtvig Fortec Motorsports
4 Ayrton Simmons Chris Dittmann Racing
5 Bryce Aron Carlin
6 Jose Garfias Elite Motorsport
7 Lebbon
8 Alvarez
9 Connor
10 Patterson