Donington Park British F3: Jack Harvey takes double pole for decider

Harvey, who lies third in the points, just six adrift of championship leader Jazeman Jaafar, was just 0.085 seconds clear of fellow Briton Alex Lynn, but managed to squeeze in three laps that were fractions quicker than the best anyone else managed.

Lynn went off at McLeans late in the session and damaged his floor, so Jaafar and Felix Serralles, the other two major title contenders, will start ahead of him for Saturday afternoon's opening race, the grid for which is decided by the drivers' second-fastest times.

That has set up a tense situation in the title fight between Jaafar, Harvey and Serralles - the Puerto Rican is three points behind Jaafar and three ahead of Harvey.

Harvey was happy with his own performance and that of his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen.

"It's very close," he said. "It's now just a case of making sure we put our stuff together, and that's the way it's been for the past few weekends.

"I'm not so much worried about the championship as I was on a personal level - I really wanted a good weekend after the last one at Silverstone, and this sends a good message to everybody that I can bounce back."

Malaysian Jaafar was happy with progress and forms an all-Carlin front row with Harvey for Saturday's race.

It is an all-Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes second row, with Serralles - who was fastest in the first two high-speed sectors but lost time in the slow corners - and Lynn.

Carlin's Pietro Fantin showed improved form to go fifth fastest. Next up was his team-mate Harry Tincknell, although the Devon man's second-best lap was significantly slower so it is Fortec's Hannes van Asseldonk who completes the third row for race one.

F3 comeback man Hywel Lloyd claimed a comfortable double pole for the National Class with his family CF Racing team, although T-Sport-run points leader Spike Goddard - who may clinch the title this afternoon - closed the gap later in the session.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                  Team/Car                 Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.663s
 2.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.717s  + 0.054s
 3.  Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m22.812s  + 0.149s
 4.  Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m22.901s  + 0.238s
 5.  Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.947s  + 0.284s
 6.  Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m23.087s  + 0.424s
 7.  Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m23.442s  + 0.779s
 8.  Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m23.660s  + 0.997s
 9.  Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m23.882s  + 1.219s
10.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook    Double R Dallara-Merc    1m24.132s  + 1.469s
11.  Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m24.456s  + 1.793s
12.  Hywel Lloyd             CF Dallara-Mugen*        1m25.116s  + 2.453s
13.  Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m25.460s  + 2.797s
14.  Pedro Pablo Calbimonte  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m25.967s  + 3.304s
15.  Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m27.233s  + 4.570s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver                  Team/Car                 Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.590s
 2.  Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m22.675s  + 0.085s
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.680s  + 0.090s
 4.  Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m22.796s  + 0.206s
 5.  Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m22.865s  + 0.275s
 6.  Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m23.024s  + 0.434s
 7.  Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m23.082s  + 0.492s
 8.  Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m23.387s  + 0.797s
 9.  Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m23.658s  + 1.068s
10.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook    Double R Dallara-Merc    1m24.052s  + 1.462s
11.  Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m24.053s  + 1.463s
12.  Hywel Lloyd             CF Dallara-Mugen*        1m24.830s  + 2.240s
13.  Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m25.039s  + 2.449s
14.  Pedro Pablo Calbimonte  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m25.780s  + 3.190s
15.  Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m26.785s  + 4.195s

* National Class