Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Points leader Callum Voisin got the better of his GB3 title rivals to top a damp qualifying session at the Donington Park finale.
The Rodin Carlin driver was just 0.013 seconds faster than JHR Developments’ title outsider Matthew Rees to secure pole for race one, with his second-best effort putting him at the front again for race two ahead of fellow championship contender Alex Dunne.
With six poles for the season, Voisin secured the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup for the second year in a row.
All drivers fitted wet tyres for the 20-minute session with McKenzy Cresswell – another with an outside chance of clinching the crown – setting the early pace for Elite Motorsport with a 1m35.126s lap.
Arden VRD’s James Hedley lowered the benchmark by 0.9s before Cresswell reclaimed the advantage by 0.1s, but again Hedley went quickest with a 1m33.823s.
Voisin briefly headed the timesheets before his 1m33.724s lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, with Cresswell going fastest once more with 1m33.471s. After improving to second, Voisin then moved to the top by 0.028s on his next lap, with Rees climbing to third.
JHR’s Joseph Loake then joined the battle for pole with a new pace-setting lap of 1m32.973s before being swiftly displaced by Cresswell by almost 0.2s
Voisin then moved ahead of the pair before improving by a further 0.2s on his next lap, his 1m32.439s pace good enough to remain at the top in the final few minutes. Dunne improved to within 0.167s of his rival, while Fortec Motorsports’ Max Esterson jumped ahead of Cresswell into third.
Rees climbed from fifth to second on his final lap ahead of Dunne, who was unable to improve. Red Bull junior Souta Arao took fourth as the chequered flag fell, 0.002s shy of his Hitech GP team-mate Dunne, to seal his best qualifying result of the season.
Hedley improved to fifth with his final effort ahead of Esterson and Cresswell, who set a fastest first sector but was unable to go quicker. Esterson will start from third in race two ahead of Cresswell, who set an identical second-best laptime to Hedley.
Loake, who trails Voisin by 13 points, ended the session a further 0.007s behind in eighth despite improving at the chequered flag, and will start from ninth in race two.
Douglas Motorsports’ Tymek Kucharczyk and Fortec’s Jarrod Waberski both also went quicker in the final moments to finish ninth and tenth and less than half a second off the pace.
Qualifying results
Race one grid
1 Callum Voisin Carlin 1m32.439s
2 Matthew Rees JHR Developments +0.013s
3 Alex Dunne Hitech GP +0.167s
4 Souta Arao Hitech GP +0.169s
5 James Hedley Arden +0.199s
6 Max Esterson Fortec Motorsports +0.242s
7 McKenzy Cresswell Elite Motorsport +0.280s
8 Joseph Loake JHR Developments +0.287s
9 Tymek Kucharczyk Douglas Motorsport +0.357s
10 Jarrod Waberski Fortec Motorsports +0.436s
Race two grid
1 Voisin 1m32.488s
2 Dunne +0.207s
3 Esterson +0.307s
4 Cresswell +0.313s
5 Hedley +0.313s
6 Aroa +0.358s
7 Rees +0.366s
8 Kucharczyk +0.423s
9 Loake +0.485s
10 Arthur Rogeon Chris Dittmann Racing 0.590s