Ticktum Dominates Qualifying in Donington

Dan Ticktum left his qualifying run late, but did so in enough time to take pole for the first and the the third race around the Donington National Circuit.

Petru Florescu knew his weekend would be troubled. He’d had to replace his engine after a failure in the Thruxton test. This meant that he had a 10 place grid penalty for wherever he qualified. With this in mind he attempted to get up to speed quickly and was the first to set a competitive time of 1:13.470.

However; the times tumbled constantly for the first 10 minutes of the session. With Florescu’s time getting beaten by first, Sandy Mitchell on a 1:11.883, then Matheus Leist on a 1:10.404, before Lando Norris broke into the 1 minute 9 second mark.

Norris would beat his time at the top as many challenged him but could not get close enough. So with 12 minutes to go, Norris lead from Leist, Rafael Martins, Daniel Baybutt and Mitchell.

However; the man to break Norris’ grip on pole was Round 2 winner, Ricky Collard, as Ticktum made his move up to 2nd. Norris responded by setting a lap time in the 1 minute 7 second range. Meanwhile Martins found himself pushing too hard and was given a warning for track limits.

There were problems for some competitors including Ollie Pidgley who is competing in his first weekend for Richardson Racing. The car had throttle problems leaving the driver 21st as he could complete no more laps.

After a strong start there were off’s for Florescu, meaning he qualified 12th and will start at the back after his penalty. As well for the other rookie; Ameya Vaidyanathan, however, he impressed on his debut going 13th.

Sennan Fielding was unable to complete the end of the session as he was called into Parc fermé as Ticktum proceeded to go faster and take pole in both qualifying grids.

So in race 1, Ticktum is on Pole from Norris, James Pull, Gustavo Myasava, Mitchell and Martins. While in race 3, the top 6 are the same.

MSA Formula Donington Park Race 1 Qualifying Result

POS	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME
1	27	Daniel Ticktum	GBR	Fortec Motorsports	1m07.668s
2	31	Lando Norris	GBR	Carlin	1m07.829s
3	15	James Pull	GBR	JTR	1m07.904s
4	17	Gustavo Myasava	BRZ	Double R Racing	1m08.005s
5	19	Sandy Mitchell	GBR	Arden	1m08.141s
6	46	Rafael Martins	BRZ	SWB Motorsport	1m08.142s
7	14	Daniel Baybutt	GBR	JTR	1m08.219s
8	11	Ricky Collard	GBR	Arden	1m08.252s
9	28	Sennan Fielding	GBR	JHR Developments	1m08.329s
10	4	Jack Barlow	GBR	MBM	1m08.336s
11	10	Colton Herta	USA	Carlin	1m08.365s
12	21	Petru Florescu	ROM	Carlin	1m08.370s
13	22	Tarun Reddy	IND	Double R Racing	1m08.488s
14	59	Josh Smith	GBR	Fortec Motorsports	1m08.593s
15	25	Louise Richardson	GBR	Richardson Racing	1m08.768s
16	51	Ameya Vaidyanathan	IND	JTR	1m08.864s
17	65	Enaam Ahmed	GBR	Arden	1m08.912s
18	18	Matheus Leist	BRZ	Double R Racing	1m09.062s
19	8	Darius Karbaley	GBR	Falcon Motorsport	1m09.685s
20	96	Jack Butel	GBR	SWB Motorsport	1m10.252s
21	23	Ollie Pidgley	GBR	Richardson Racing	1m10.693s

MSA Formula Donington Park Race 3 Qualifying Result

POS	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME
1	27	Daniel Ticktum	GBR	Fortec Motorsports	1m07.741s
2	31	Lando Norris	GBR	Carlin	1m07.831s
3	15	James Pull	GBR	JTR	1m08.035s
4	17	Gustavo Myasava	BRZ	Double R Racing	1m08.162s
5	19	Sandy Mitchell	GBR	Arden	1m08.197s
6	46	Rafael Martins	BRZ	SWB Motorsport	1m08.293s
7	11	Ricky Collard	GBR	Arden	1m08.303s
8	10	Colton Herta	USA	Carlin	1m08.397s
9	21	Petru Florescu	ROM	Carlin	1m08.400s
10	4	Jack Barlow	GBR	MBM	1m08.405s
11	28	Sennan Fielding	GBR	JHR Developments	1m08.435s
12	14	Daniel Baybutt	GBR	JTR	1m08.554s
13	22	Tarun Reddy	IND	Double R Racing	1m08.646s
14	25	Louise Richardson	GBR	Richardson Racing	1m08.858s
15	59	Josh Smith	GBR	Fortec Motorsports	1m08.922s
16	65	Enaam Ahmed	GBR	Arden	1m08.985s
17	18	Matheus Leist	BRZ	Double R Racing	1m09.096s
18	51	Ameya Vaidyanathan	IND	JTR	1m09.331s
19	8	Darius Karbaley	GBR	Falcon Motorsport	1m09.876s
20	96	Jack Butel	GBR	SWB Motorsport	1m10.350s
21	23	Ollie Pidgley	GBR	Richardson Racing	1m11.213s