Jack Harvey dominates Brands Hatch qualifying to take another double pole

The Briton outpaced championship leader Jazeman Jaafar by less than a tenth of a second, with the margin just 0.016s on second-fastest times, which decide the grid for this afternoon's opening race.

Harvey, who suffered a gearshift issue on new tyres in the Friday test, smiled: "We seem to have this habit of not showing how fast we are in practice, and then doing it in qualifying! My first run today was more of a sighter, then we made a few tweaks in the middle and it was really good."

Jaafar, who enjoyed the battle with Harvey, cited traffic on his second set of tyres for possibly not finding the final tenth. When he got a clear track he felt his tyres were slightly past their best.

Harry Tincknell showed improved form to complete a 1-2-3 for the Carlin team's Dallara-Volkswagens. He set times good enough for third in both races, but his second-best time was disallowed for exceeding track limits at Graham Hill Bend, relegating him to fifth on the grid for today's race.

Once again Alex Lynn headed the Fortec Motorsport line-up, making a big leap forward from testing to take two second-row positions in his Dallara-Mercedes. His spectacular team-mate Felix Serralles placed in the top six for race one, but his second-best time was good only for eighth.

Testing pacesetter Carlos Sainz Jr is a frustrated fourth and fifth on the two grids. The Carlin man got mired in traffic on his second set of tyres and did not set his best lap until the very end of the session.

T-Sport's Nick McBride made a giant leap forward in competitiveness with the Nissan-engined Dallara, and lines up sixth for this afternoon's opening race.

In the National Class, F3 returnee Adderly Fong, driving the same CF Racing-run Dallara he raced in the A-class last season, took a double pole.

As usual for the Brands GP circuit there were casualties. Double R Racing man Fahmi Ilyas hit the barriers at Surtees and caused a red flag before setting a representative lap time. Hannes van Asseldonk crashed his Fortec machine at Paddock Hill Bend shortly after the restart, and National Class points leader Spike Goddard ended his session in the gravel on the GP loop.

Grid for race one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.271s 2. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.287s + 0.016s 3. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m17.455s + 0.184s 4. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.518s + 0.247s 5. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.713s + 0.442s 6. Nick McBride  T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m18.141s + 0.870s 7. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 1m18.176s + 0.905s 8. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m18.297s + 1.026s 9. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m18.726s + 1.455s 10. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 1m19.101s + 1.830s 11. Adderly Fong CF Dallara-Mugen* 1m19.953s + 2.682s 12. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* 1m20.011s + 2.740s 13. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m20.324s + 3.053s 14. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen* 1m21.131s + 3.860s 15. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc Grid for race three: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.048s 2. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.131s + 0.083s 3. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.310s + 0.262s 4. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m17.340s + 0.292s 5. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m17.492s + 0.444s 6. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m17.935s + 0.887s 7. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m17.974s + 0.926s 8. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 1m18.024s + 0.976s 9. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m18.436s + 1.388s 10. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 1m18.896s + 1.848s 11. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m19.412s + 2.364s 12. Adderly Fong CF Dallara-Mugen* 1m19.504s + 2.456s 13. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* 1m19.748s + 2.700s 14. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen* 1m20.991s + 3.943s 15. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 1m28.158s + 11.110s * Denotes National Class runner