Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Carlin’s Callum Voisin was fastest in a very close GB3 qualifying session at Snetterton that featured multiple lead changes.
Voisin took pole for race one with a 1m41.442s lap, beating title contenders Joel Granfors and Luke Browning, while Browning took race two pole ahead of Granfors.
Roberto Faria led a Carlin 1-2-3 early on, the trio separated by a slender 0.084 seconds. JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees and Hitech GP’s Browning then exchanged the fastest lap, with Fortec Motorsports’ Granfors and Elite Motorsport’s Tom Lebbon in the mix behind.
Rees topped the times once more with a 1m41.628, with Faria only 0.002s slower and Browning 0.009s back in third.
Browning posted a 1m41.454s to snatch provisional pole with 15 second remaining but, after the chequered flag fell, Granfors pipped his title rival by 0.009s before Voisin edged the pair of them to clinch his maiden pole.
Rees had to settle for fourth, ahead of Faria and Lebbon. Arden’s Alex Connor was seventh ahead of Elite’s John Bennett and Sagrera.
Nico Christodoulou was 10th for Arden, and on row six of the race one grid is Douglas Motorsport’s Max Esterson and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Branden Lee Oxley, who briefly held second earlier on.
The top 14 runners were separated by 0.754s, with Hillspeed’s Nick Gilkes and CDR’s McKenzy Cresswell at the bottom of that group.
Browning’s second-best laptime, a 1m41.639s, secured him pole for race two on Sunday. His lap was 0.083s faster than Granfors’, with Rees in third, Lebbon fourth and Voisin fifth, where he had been prior to his late lap for race one pole.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Callum Voisin Carlin 1m41.442s
2 Joel Granfors Fortec Motorsports +0.094s
3 Luke Browning Hitech GP +0.103s
4 Matthew Rees JHR Developments +0.186s
5 Roberto Faria Carlin +0.188s
6 Tom Lebbon Elite Motorsport +0.296s
7 Alex Connor Arden +0.309s
8 John Bennett Elite Motorsport +0.413s
9 Javier Sagrera Carlin +0.451s
10 Nico Christodoulou Arden +0.474s
Race 2 grid
1 Browning 1m41.639s
2 Granfors +0.083s
3 Rees +0.155s
4 Lebbon +0.255s
5 Voisin +0.279s
6 Sagrera +0.315s
7 Christodoulou +0.337s
8 Connor +0.347s
9 Max Esterson Douglas Motorsport +0.374s
10 Faria +0.480s