Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic and Hillspeed’s Kanato Le claimed pole positions in an eventful pair of qualifying sessions for the GB3 Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
Ninovic was quickest in a heavily disrupted Q1, while pre-event practice pace setter Le came close to replicating his FP1 pace to claim his first GB3 pole in Q2, at the venue where he first raced in the championship last year.
Qualifying One - Ninovic's second successive pole comes in dramatic, curtailed session
Ninovic's pole, his second in GB3, came in a hectic first qualifying session that saw some of the pre-session favourites hit trouble.
Hillspeed's Freddie Slater, who had topped four of the five pre-event sessions, stopped out on circuit early on, bringing out double waved yellow flags. When that was cleared, there was only a couple of minutes of green flag running before a three-car incident involving Lucas Fluxa, Deagen Fairclough and Hiyu Yamakoshi at the Bus Stop chicane brought the session to an early halt with four minutes still on the clock.
Argenti with Prema's Fluxa and Hillspeed's Yamakoshi were able to get their cars back to the pits, but Fairclough's Hitech TGR car sustained more significant damage and was left stranded in the run off area. With both Fairclough and Slater not setting representative lap times, both will have to charge their way through the pack from the back of the grid in all three races this weekend.
Ninovic’s pole time of 2m14.905s was some 1.8 seconds off the practice pace, indicating the lack of clear running available, but also demonstrating the importance of getting a lap time in as quickly as possible. The Zandvoort race winner headed a Rodin Motorsport 1-2 in the session, a quarter of a second ahead of fellow Aussie Gianmarco Pradel, with VRD Racing’s Hugo Schwarze third, as he followed up his own Zandvoort win with his best GB3 qualifying result. Pradel however carries a three place grid penalty into this weekend's event following his Zandvoort collision with Kai Daryanani, promoting Schwarze to the front row.
Xcel Motorsport's Patrick Heuzenroeder is well placed for race one also, having been fourth in Q1 ahead of the next Australian, JHR's Noah Lisle. Both will elevate above Pradel on the race one grid.
Elite Motorsport's Will Macintyre and Q2 pole sitter Le were sixth and seventh, and the final drivers within a second of the Q1 pole time.
The top-10 in the session was completed by Lisle's teammate Kai Daryanani, Argenti with Prema's Yuanpu Cui and Xcel Motorsport's Jack Sherwood, the latter scooping his best GB3 qualifying result.
Qualifying Two - Le unleashes his practice pace with new qualifying lap record
With the usual qualifying climax not possible in Q1, the second qualifying session saw significantly quicker times, and Le posted a 2m13.740s with a few minutes remaining to claim his first GB3 pole ahead of Pradel, who was second again but this time in a much more conventional session.
Le had topped practice today, and with green flag running throughout the second 15-minute session, was able to get near the pace he demonstrated this morning, claiming pole with a 2m13.740s lap, a new GB3 qualifying lap record at Spa-Francorchamps.
A late lap from Hitech TGR’s Nikita Johnson put the American third, as he recovered from his own Q1 issues to claim third on the grid for the second contest, his first top-three qualifying in GB3. Amidst the Q1 chaos, Johnson had not set a representative time in that session, so faces the unusual prospect of starting 22nd for the first race and then third for the second.
Ninovic was fourth in Q2, leaving him well placed to make big gains in the championship fight this weekend, lapping 0.030s quicker than Hillspeed's Yamakoshi, fighting back after his involvement in the Q1 melee.
Hitech's Keanu Al Azhari will start race two from sixth with Macintyre seventh this time around, ahead of Xcel Motorsport's Dion Gowda, with the top-10 completed by Lisle and Heuzenroeder.
The first race of the weekend is due to start at 10.48 local time on Saturday (09.48 UK) with the second contest following at 17.25. All three races this weekend will be streamed live as usual.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional qualifying session one result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 2m14.905s
2. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.223s
3. Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing, +0.567s
4. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.680s
5. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +0.867s
6. Will Macinytre, Elite Motorsport, +0.900s
7. Kanato Le, Hillspeed, +0.974s
8. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +1.066s
9. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, +1.384s
10. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +1.444s
11. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +1.552s
12. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +1.693s
13. Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, +1.768s
14. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +1.810s
15. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, +2.053s
16. Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport, +2.758s
17. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +2.817s
18. Divy Nandan, JHR Developments, +3.800s
19. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +6.201s
20. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +9.448s
21. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +9.573s
22. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +18.009s
23. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, +20.239s
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional qualifying session two result:
1. Kanato Le, Hillspeed, 2m13.740s
2. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.382s
3. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +0.663s
4. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +0.765s
5. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +0.795s
6. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +0.862s
7. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +0.968s
8. Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport, +1.018s
9. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +1.019s
10. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +1.070s
11. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +1.161s
12. Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing, +1.227s
13. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +1.596s
14. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, +1.635s
15. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +1.702s
16. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +2.356s
17. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +2.714s
18. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, +2.932s
19. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +2.934s
20. Divy Nandan, JHR Developments, +3.307s
Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, did not participate
Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, did not participate
Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, did not participate