Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne put in a commanding performance to take a brace of Omologato pole positions in the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA at Snetterton this morning (13 August).
The championship leader arrives with a 41-point advantage over nearest rival Ollie Gray, and was untouchable throughout the 20 minutes of qualifying at a blisteringly hot Snetterton.
The Irishman set the first representative time at the front, a 1:48.842, and would shave a further half a second off his own benchmark as a succession of challengers tried – and failed – to wrestle top spot away.
JHR’s Georgi Dimitrov made a late charger up the order and came closest to denying Dunne an eighth and ninth pole of the year, but the one-time Snetterton race winner could only manage to get within a tenth. That put him just six thousandths clear of Dunne’s Hitech team-mate Eduardo Coseteng, who will line up third.
With his chief title rival on pole, Gray will be a little frustrated with fourth, but the Carlin racer will start on the front row alongside Dunne for the ITV4-televised finale on Sunday afternoon courtesy of his second-fastest time, giving him an opportunity to continue reeling the points leader in.
Phinsys by Argenti pairing Aiden Neate and Daniel Guinchard were two other late improvers, to fifth and sixth respectively. Knockhill race winner Ugo Ugochukwu (Carlin) was next, with Joseph Loake (JHR), Louis Sharp (Carlin) and Oliver Stewart (Hitech) completing the top ten.
That means Stewart will start the second race of the weekend at 17:50 (BST) this evening from pole position, with the top ten qualifiers reversed to form the starting order.
Adam Fitzgerald (Argenti) fell foul of track limits and had his best lap deleted, putting the Irishman 11th. Fellow Rookie Cup entry Noah Lisle (JHR) starts behind, then follows Michael Shin, the leading Virtuosi Racing challenger at their home event.
Shin’s team-mate Edward Pearson was 15th, the pair split by debutante Jack Sherwood (Chris Dittmann Racing). Hitech’s Daniel Mavlyutov and Divy Nandan in the other CDR machine round out the 17-strong field.
The opening race of the weekend in Norfolk gets underway at 14:05 (BST) this afternoon. To view the full results from qualifying, click here.
