Will Palmer claimed his fourth pole of the year to put the series leader in the best position for race one at Brands Hatch for the BRDC Formula 4 championship, and he’ll be joined on the front row by Harri Newey.
Palmer went into qualifying with high hopes, having performed well during Friday practice and topping the Saturday morning practice session, in which he had achieved a time 1.2 seconds quicker than nearest rival Rodrigo Fonseca, who was hoping to bounce back to form after a poor Snetterton where he picked up only one podium.
Ciaran Haggerty was the first competitor to set the pace, being the only driver to set an initial lap under 1 minute 28 seconds, before he was beaten by the Chris Dittmann Racing drivers.
Soon it was the HHC Motorsport drivers back on top with Palmer setting a time of 1m24.685s. The time kept him ahead of team mate Newey, Snetterton sensation Omar Ismail and Jack Lang with ten minutes remaining.
As the session continued, Haggerty and Tom Jackson leapt into third and fourth respectively, but no-one was able to challenge the HHC drivers at the front, with Palmer even deciding to pit at the halfway point.
Having been his closest rival in final practice, Fonseca was struggling to find the pace in qualifying, as he was originally unable to get into the top 10, while he improved by the end it was only good enough to put the Mexican seventh on the grid.
Yellow flags and a lack of improvement saw many of the front runners pit before the end of the session in an attempt to save their tyres and cars. In the end, the session was red flagged and concluded with two minutes to go after an off at Clark Curve.
This would allow Palmer to claim his fourth pole of the year, allowing him to get one step closer to the Jack Cavill trophy for most pole positions. Alongside him on the grid will be team-mate Newey with Haggerty, Jackson, Ismail and Lang behind.
Brands Hatch Qualifying 1 Times
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