Hitech's Deagen Fairclough romped to a sensational double GB3 pole position at Brands Hatch, with two record-breaking laps in the double qualifying session this morning.
The British driver set a 1m16.451s effort in Q1, at that time, a new Brands Hatch GB3 qualifying record, but he destroyed that with a searing 1m16.090s in Q2, making it five pole positions from the last six qualifying sessions.
The 20-year-old led a British one-two in both sessions as Xcel Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling completed the front row for both main races. Fairclough had a margin of just under a quarter of a second in the first session, and 0.194s in session two. Campbell-Pilling has to carry over a three place grid drop penalty from Donington Park however, which will drop him to fifth on the race one grid.
Q1 - Fairclough untouchable as Britons led the way
Fairclough secured his first pole position of the day with a dominant performance in the first part of qualifying.
The Briton set a 1m16.451s to be 0.224 seconds clear of his closest challenger, Campbell-Pilling.
Fairclough set the early pace, setting successive fastest laps to lead the way with a 1m16.591s time. Campbell-Pilling managed to get to 0.084s off Fairclough at the midway point, with Rodin Motorsport’s Maxim Rehm and VRD Racing’s championship leader Nikita Bedrin third and fourth respectively – both within two tenths of pole time.
However, Fairclough lowered the benchmark further with just under four minutes to go, setting his best lap of the session to open up a two-tenth buffer to the rest of the field.
Rehm and Bedrin remained third and fourth after being unable to improve late on. Returning driver Kanato Le was fifth for Hitech, some 0.466s away from team-mate Fairclough, with Rodin’s Abbi Pulling sixth.
The final Rodin of Martin Molnar could only manage seventh as he looks to keep his championship hopes alive heading into the final round in Barcelona in November. Bedrin's chief title rival was 0.651s off pole and three places behind.
Peter Bouzinelos was the lead Hillspeed, just four thousandths of a second behind Molnar in eighth, with VRD’s Patricio Gonzalez and the second Hillspeed of Dante Vinci completing the top-10, which was covered by less than eight tenths of a second
Xcel’s championship contender Lucas Fluxa was only able to manage 13th, 0.875s off the pace set by Fairclough. The top-15 in Q1 were within a second of the pole time.
Q2 - Fairclough makes it five from the last six with Q2 pole
Fairclough completed the double in session two, setting a GB3 qualifying record-breaking 1m16.090s lap just before the midway point.
Whilst Pulling, Campbell-Pilling and Rehm traded early pace-setting times, it was Fairclough who sailed to the top to secure his fifth pole from the last six qualifying sessions, as he continues his dominant form in the second half of the season.
Campbell-Pilling locked out an all-British front row for both main races with the second fastest time again, 0.194s off of the pace set by Fairclough. It is the Xcel driver’s best overall qualifying performance of the season.
Championship leader Bedrin was third, over three tenths back from pole, with Pulling the lead Rodin car in fourth. Her team-mate Rehm completed the top five, a further 0.243s back, with the final Rodin of Molnar sixth.
Vinci was seventh for Hillspeed, leading a tight group of four drivers within 0.150s of each other. Fluxa improved to eighth in the second session, 0.082s behind Vinci, with Patricio Gonzalez 0.038s further back in ninth and Le 0.044s adrift in 10th. The top-10 were all within a second of Fairclough's record breaker.
The first race of the weekend, with the grid based on the Q1 results, is due to start at 15.05.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch, provisional qualifying one result:
1. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, 1m16.451s
2. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, +0.224s
3. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, +0.276s
4. Nikita Bedrin, Elite Motorsport, +0.321s
5. Kanato Le, Hitech, +0.466s
6. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +0.505s
7. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +0.651s
8. Peter Bouzinelos, Hillspeed, +0.655s
9. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +0.757s
10. Dante Vinci, Hillspeed, +0.780s
11. Rodrigo Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +0.809s
12. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +0.875s
13. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +0.893s
14. Edu Robinson, Elite Motorsport, +0.983s
15. Aurelia Nobels, Hillspeed, +0.990s
16. Yuhao Fu, Hitech, +1.018s
17. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +1.100s
18. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +1.115s
19. Ricardo Baptista, Xcel Motorsport, +1.925s
20. Aditya Kulkarni, AKCEL GP, no time set
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch, provisional qualifying two result:
1. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, 1m16.090s
2. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, +0.194s
3. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, +0.331s
4. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +0.352s
5. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, +0.595s
6. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +0.741s
7. Dante Vinci, Hillspeed, +0.786s
8. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +0.868s
9. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +0.906s
10. Yuhao Fu, Hitech, +0.950s
11. Kanato Le, Hitech, +1.061s
12. Peter Bouzinelos, Hillspeed, +1.084s
13. Rodrigo Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +1.142s
14. Aurelia Nobels, Hillspeed, +1.162s
15. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +1.194s
16. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +1.329s
17. Edu Robinson, Elite Motorsport, +1.365s
18. Ricardo Baptista, Xcel Motorsport, +1.693s
19. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +1.906s
20. Aditya Kulkarni, AKCEL GP, +3.463s