Jack Harvey takes double Snetterton Formula 3 pole

Harvey, who trails Spa winner Felix Serralles by four points, was fastest almost throughout, although on the second set of tyres the chasing pack made inroads into the Englishman's advantage. Harvey's own best time on his second set was enough to close out Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr by just 0.011 seconds.

"It got mightily close in the end!" he said. "But being good on the first set of tyres helped us out - to be fair I've been able to do that all year."

Sainz remarked: "It is so close it is impossible to imagine!" and felt that he could have been a touch faster had he not encountered a National Class car on his fastest lap. The Spaniard's second-fastest lap was good enough only for fifth on the grid for Saturday afternoon's opening race.

Series leader Serralles will start alongside Harvey at the front this afternoon, but qualified fourth for Sunday's race in his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes. He was pipped for fastest Fortec time by Alex Lynn, who lines up third for both races and felt a front-row slot was on if he had not locked up into Russell on his best lap.

Jazeman Jaafar, the other title contender, is alongside Lynn on the second row for Saturday's race in his Carlin machine, although was edged down to sixth by Harry Tincknell for Sunday's race.

A late improvement by Adderly Fong allowed the Chinese driver to pip Pedro Pablo Calbimonte for Sunday's National Class pole by just 0.003s in his CF Racing Dallara, although the Bolivian T-Sport driver remained on top for Saturday's race.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                  Team/Car                Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.270s
 2.  Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.377s  + 0.107s
 3.  Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.420s  + 0.150s
 4.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.524s  + 0.254s
 5.  Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.610s  + 0.340s
 6.  Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.707s  + 0.437s
 7.  Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.932s  + 0.662s
 8.  Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.959s  + 0.689s
 9.  Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m42.109s  + 0.839s
10.  Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc   1m42.453s  + 1.183s
11.  Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Mugen  1m42.493s  + 1.223s
12.  Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  1m42.515s  + 1.245s
13.  Pedro Pablo Calbimonte  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   1m44.124s  + 2.854s
14.  Adderly Fong            CF Dallara-Mugen        1m44.277s  + 3.007s
15.  Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen  1m44.406s  + 3.136s
16.  Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   1m44.576s  + 3.306s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver                  Team/Car                Time       Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.170s
 2.  Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.181s  + 0.011s
 3.  Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.295s  + 0.125s
 4.  Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.299s  + 0.129s
 5.  Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.408s  + 0.238s
 6.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.447s  + 0.277s
 7.  Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m41.729s  + 0.559s
 8.  Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW       1m41.930s  + 0.760s
 9.  Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m42.102s  + 0.932s
10.  Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Mugen  1m42.407s  + 1.237s
11.  Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc   1m42.410s  + 1.240s
12.  Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  1m42.514s  + 1.344s
13.  Adderly Fong            CF Dallara-Mugen        1m43.845s  + 2.675s
14.  Pedro Pablo Calbimonte  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   1m43.848s  + 2.678s
15.  Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen  1m43.980s  + 2.810s
16.  Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   1m44.376s  + 3.206s