Jack Harvey secures Oulton Park British Formula 3 pole double for Carlin

The Lincolnshire man did three laps quicker than the best anyone else could manage to ensure that the Racing Steps Foundation-backed Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen will start races one and three from the front, on a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake.

After Fortec Motorsport drivers had taken the two top slots from Friday morning's free practice session, and shown impressive straight-line speed, the Carlin team focused its efforts on improving the mechanical set-up of its machines rather than reducing downforce. It paid off spectacularly for Harvey.

"Fortec were really fast this morning, and that required us to make some quite decent-size changes that we wouldn't normally do going into qualifying," explained Harvey. "But it was all calculated, and the team deserve these poles as much as I do."

While a disappointed Alex Lynn slumped to seventh (and fifth on second-best times, which set the grid for race one), Fortec team-mate Felix Serralles kept the squad at the forefront with a one-off effort to take second overall and ensure he will become surely the first Puerto Rican to start an international motor race from a front-row grid position.

Serralles's second-best effort was good only for eighth on the grid for race one, so Harry Tincknell - pipped to the front row by a thousandth of a second for race three - will start the opening race from second place. The Devonian Carlin driver rued a small error at Knickerbrook on his best lap that cost him a tenth.

Jazeman Jaafar took a third and a fifth, while fellow Carlin man Carlos Sainz Jr has two fourths. The Spaniard was three tenths clear in light rain early on when the session was red-flagged after Fahmi Ilyas became the second Double R Racing driver of the day to shunt (in his case at Old Hall).

With the track dry on the session's resumption, Sainz went off at the sixth-gear Cascades and damaged the floor, but bounced back onto the track. Lacking front downforce, he relied on his damp time for the race one grid, but heroed a better lap for race three.

"I just closed my eyes and tried to go flat everywhere!" said the Red Bull-backed Spaniard.

T-Sport-run Australian Spike Goddard took a brace of comfortable pole positions in the National Class.

Grid for race one:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                 Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m27.997s
 2.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.192s  + 0.195s
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.240s  + 0.243s
 4.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.288s  + 0.291s
 5.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.345s  + 0.348s
 6.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.398s  + 0.401s
 7.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.420s  + 0.423s
 8.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.495s  + 0.498s
 9.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.724s  + 0.727s
10.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m29.615s  + 1.618s
11.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m29.943s  + 1.946s
12.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m30.956s  + 2.959s
13.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc    1m31.430s  + 3.433s
14.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m32.130s  + 4.133s

Grid for race three:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                 Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m27.868s
 2.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.093s  + 0.225s
 3.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.094s  + 0.226s
 4.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.106s  + 0.238s
 5.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.108s  + 0.240s
 6.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.268s  + 0.400s
 7.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.282s  + 0.414s
 8.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m28.380s  + 0.512s
 9.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m28.715s  + 0.847s
10.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m29.316s  + 1.448s
11.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m29.719s  + 1.851s
12.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc    1m30.894s  + 3.026s
13.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m30.934s  + 3.066s
14.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m31.938s  + 4.070s

*= National Class