Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne put himself in the frame to extend his championship lead in the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA after claiming a double pole position during qualifying at Brands Hatch this morning (14 May).
The Irish teenager led the session for almost the entire duration, setting the benchmark time of 44.220 around the 1.2-mile Indy circuit. His closest challenger, Phinsys by Argenti’s Aiden Neate, won out in a frenetic battle to complete the front row, 0.229s adrift.
The chasing pack were denied an opportunity to improve their quickest times in the closing minutes of the session after an off at Paddock Hill Bend brought out the red flags, and prematurely ended the session.
Neate has Donington Park race-winner Georgi Dimitrov and McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu for company on the second row behind, the trio separated by less than a tenth of a second as the strength in depth of competition in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series was highlighted once again.
Joseph Loake (JHR) rounds out the top five ahead of practice pace-setter Ollie Gray, who will be frustrated with sixth but does start the ITV-televised finale on the front row alongside chief title rival Dunne by dint of his second-fastest time.
Eduardo Coseteng (Hitech) was next ahead of Mercedes-AMG protégé Daniel Guinchard (Argenti), with Louis Sharp (Carlin) an impressive ninth on debut. Virtuosi Racing’s Michael Shin took tenth, meaning he will start the second race of the weekend from reverse grid pole.
Oliver Stewart (Hitech) fended off competition from Edward Pearson (Virtuosi) by a little over half a tenth in 11th and 12th, with the third Argenti challenger of Adam Fitzgerald taking 13th.
The other Pearson on the grid – Chris Dittmann Racing’s Joel – was 14th, ahead of Daniel Mavlyutov (Hitech) and Noah Lisle (JHR).
Racing action begins later today with the opening contest at 13:25 (BST), ahead of reverse grid action at 17:10. Sunday features one more race to round out the triple header, scheduled to get underway at 14:50.
To view the full session result, click here.
