Carlin Motorsport’s Clement Novalak will start Saturday’s British F3 race at Snettertton from pole position after a tight qualifying battle between himself and Johnathan Hoggard.
Fortec driver Hoggard was 0.044s behind Novalak’s 1:43.533 after setting the initial pace and will start from pole position for Race Three on Sunday afternoon by virtue of his setting the fastest second-best lap.
Kiern Jewiss will start from third on Saturday afternoon, just a tenth away from pole position, ahead of a rejuvenated Hampus Ericsson and a solid fifth place for Neil Verhagen – the Double R duo in fourth and fifth separated by just 0.081s.
Chris Dittman Racing’s Ayrton Simmons – a podium finisher from Oulton Park four weeks ago – will go from sixth ahead of Oulton polesitter Kaylen Frederick and Manuel Maldonado.
Sweden’s Lucas Petersson qualified ninth ahead of Thai driver Sassakorn Chaimongkol, with early pacesitter Benjamin Pedersen eventually finding himself down in 11th to share row six with Malaysia’s Nadim Azman.
Ulysse De Pauw will be disappointed to find himself 13th, Pavan Ravishankar starts fourteenth while the back row comprises of Kris Wright and Josh Mason.
After five minutes of shadow boxing from the runners and riders as the cars got used to new track conditions, Hoggard punched in the first representative hot lap of the session to take pole away from Pedersen, who was the early pacesetter with Chaimongkol.
Hoggard looked like he wouldn’t be headed until five minutes from the end when Novalak, another who took his time to get used to track conditions, snatched pole away by the smallest of margins.
Elsewhere, Keirn Jewiss rescued a third from an initially middling qualifying session, Hampus Ericsson moved back to form after a slow Oulton Park during which he often found himself towards the back of the field and Kaylen Frederick backed up his speed from the Easter Weekend with a top-ten starting position, where he will be hoping for a quieter and calmer weekend after an action-packed Bank Holiday Monday.
IMAGE: JAKOB EBREY