Joseph Loake struck late to provisionally claim a maiden Omologato Pole Position in a dramatic final qualifying session of the 2022 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA season at Brands Hatch.
The JHR Developments racer clocked a best time of 1:23.789 seconds around the 2.4-mile Grand Prix layout to deny Carlin’s Ollie Gray by a mere 0.038s.
Virtuosi Racing’s Edward Pearson had looked on course for his and the team’s maiden pole in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series, but slipped back slightly to third amid a late flurry of improvements.
It still represents a career-best start for Pearson, from which he will undoubtedly be aiming for his first silverware later this afternoon.
Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Daniel Guinchard took a step in the right direction as he seeks to overturn Ugo Ugochukwu’s 26-point lead in the Rookie Cup, the Phinsys by Argenti driver claiming fourth, with Ugochukwu sixth behind practice pace-setter, Aiden Neate (Argenti).
Louis Sharp went off late on at Paddock Hill Bend but still steered his Carlin challenger to seventh spot, the top ten completed by Georgi Dimitrov (JHR), Eduardo Coseteng (Hitech) and Michael Shin (Virtuosi).
For Shin, tenth spot means another reverse grid pole position at Brands Hatch. The South Korean was in a similar position on the Indy circuit back in May, and duly claimed his first win in single seaters.
Noah Lisle (JHR) was next ahead of Adam Fitzgerald (Argenti), the seventh row behind shared by James Higgins (Fortec) and Jack Sherwood (Chris Dittmann Racing).
Oliver Stewart (Hitech) and Jaden Pariat (Chris Dittmann Racing) start 15th and 16th respectively, with Marcos Flack (Fortec), Daniel Mavlyutov (Hitech) and Isaac Barashi (Argenti) rounding out the 19-strong field.
The opening race of the weekend is scheduled to start at 16:25 (UK time), with live coverage available on itv.com/btcc.
To view the final result, click here.
