Kevin Magnussen takes double pole for British Formula 3 finale

The Dane, who is one of five drivers in realistic contention to finish second in the championship to Felipe Nasr this weekend, beat practice pacesetter Huertas to the top spot by just 0.055 seconds with a 1m53.044s best lap of the 3.7-mile GP circuit.

Huertas led the way early on, but could not match Magnussen once the Dane found his rhythm. Magnussen also set a second best lap within 0.001s of his fastest to claim the other pole on offer.

Champion elect Nasr and Rupert Svendsen-Cook completed a Carlin lockout of the first two rows. Svendsen-Cook had an early quick time scrubbed for disrespecting the track limits but later efforts were still enough to make the top four for both of the main points races.

Nasr's second best effort was good enough to net him a front row start for this afternoon's first race.

Double R Racing's Scott Pye did a great job to set the fifth fastest time, just 0.005s slower than Svendsen-Cook. The 2010 British Formula Ford champion edged Fortec's Lucas Foresti by just over half a tenth to be fastest of the Mercedes powered runners and also set a second best time good enough for third on the race one grid - his best qualifying result of the season.

Carlin's Jazeman Jaafar, GP3 interloper Mitch Evans (Double R) and Hitech's Pietro Fantin were next in an overall top nine covered by less than four tenths of a second. Brazilian Fantin's second best lap earned him a row three start for race one, alongside Huertas.

Fortec's Will Buller set a time good enough for the top five with 12 minutes of the half-hour session remaining, but slumped to 10th as others improved. The Northern Irishman's second best time was only good enough for 11th on the race one grid, behind Jaafar, Evans, Carlin rookie Jack Harvey and Foresti.

British F3 returnee Alexander Sims set a pair of 12th fastest times for series newcomer Motopark.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                  Time       Gap
 1.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.045s
 2.  Felipe Nasr           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.254s  + 0.209s
 3.  Scott Pye             Double R Dallara-Merc     1m53.287s  + 0.242s
 4.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.347s  + 0.302s
 5.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.364s  + 0.319s
 6.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech Dallara-VW         1m53.506s  + 0.461s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.563s  + 0.518s
 8.  Mitch Evans           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m53.582s  + 0.537s
 9.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.724s  + 0.679s
10.  Lucas Foresti         Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m53.780s  + 0.735s
11.  William Buller        Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m53.784s  + 0.739s
12.  Alexander Sims        Motopark Dallara-VW       1m53.940s  + 0.895s
13.  Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m54.090s  + 1.045s
14.  Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m54.377s  + 1.332s
15.  Pipo Derani           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m54.392s  + 1.347s
16.  Maxim Snegirev        Hitech Dallara-VW         1m54.467s  + 1.422s
17.  Harry Tincknell       Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m54.558s  + 1.513s
18.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m54.640s  + 1.595s
19.  Bart Hylkema          T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m55.057s  + 2.012s
20.  Yann Cunha            T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m55.058s  + 2.013s
21.  Guilherme Silva       Hitech Dallara-VW         1m55.295s  + 2.250s
22.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m55.354s  + 2.309s
23.  Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech Dallara-Mugen      1m57.731s  + 4.686s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                  Time       Gap
 1.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.044s
 2.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.099s  + 0.055s
 3.  Felipe Nasr           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.241s  + 0.197s
 4.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.274s  + 0.230s
 5.  Scott Pye             Double R Dallara-Merc     1m53.279s  + 0.235s
 6.  Lucas Foresti         Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m53.332s  + 0.288s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.360s  + 0.316s
 8.  Mitch Evans           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m53.384s  + 0.340s
 9.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech Dallara-VW         1m53.413s  + 0.369s
10.  William Buller        Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m53.622s  + 0.578s
11.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW         1m53.700s  + 0.656s
12.  Alexander Sims        Motopark Dallara-VW       1m53.827s  + 0.783s
13.  Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m54.066s  + 1.022s
14.  Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m54.144s  + 1.100s
15.  Maxim Snegirev        Hitech Dallara-VW         1m54.295s  + 1.251s
16.  Pipo Derani           Double R Dallara-Merc     1m54.302s  + 1.258s
17.  Harry Tincknell       Fortec Dallara-Merc       1m54.548s  + 1.504s
18.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m54.633s  + 1.589s
19.  Bart Hylkema          T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m54.692s  + 1.648s
20.  Yann Cunha            T-Sport Dallara-VW        1m54.917s  + 1.873s
21.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision Dallara-Merc  1m55.042s  + 1.998s
22.  Guilherme Silva       Hitech Dallara-VW         1m55.118s  + 2.074s
23.  Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech Dallara-Mugen      1m57.565s  + 4.521s

Race one grid = Second-fastest qualifying times
Race two grid = Race one results with top eight reversed
Race three grid = Fastest qualifying times