Kimball Doubles Up at Thruxton

This time Carlin Motorsport's Californian driver was over half a second quicker than the rest of the field, after making the best of a handy slipstreaming opportunity on the fast Hampshire track.

It was an excellent session for the Carlin team, which also took second and third places on the grid with points leader Alvaro Parente and Dane Christian Bakkerud, who reckons the battle for the top time was closer than the times show.

"It was very close between me and Alvaro," said Bakkerud, "but Charlie got a big tow, which explains his pace."

The top six times were completed by Hitech's Marko Asmer, T-Sport's Ryan Lewis and Fortec driver Mike Conway, who failed to find the form that netted him second place in session one. Conway was unhappy with his set-up, and after making adjustments embarked on a final attempt to break into the top times towards the end of the session. Sixth was the best he could manage.

Thruxton's abrasive surface and the high speeds the cars run at always make tyre-wear a factor, but Kimball thinks he's got that covered.

"My tyres are good," he said. "There are only 10 laps on each set, and I spent the second half of each session just sitting in the pits saving the tyres." Of the three Carlin drivers, Kimball is reckoned to be using hard front tyres, and Parente on hard rears. Bakkerud, who is known for giving his rubber an easier time than either of his teammates, could just prove to be a dark horse.

"My strategy is: don't do anything crazy in the early laps and let the others make some mistakes," said Bakkerud.

British F3 - Thruxton - Results of Qualifying for Round 5 (Race 10):

Pos  Driver              Make-Engine               Time             Laps
 1.  Charlie Kimball     Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:06.848           10
 2.  Alvaro Parente      Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.383 + 0.535   19
 3.  Christian Bakkerud  Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.419 + 0.571   13
 4.  Marko Asmer         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.431 + 0.583   18
 5.  Ryan Lewis          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.629 + 0.781   20
 6.  Mike Conway         Dallara Opel Spiess       1:07.716 + 0.868   19
 7.  Tim Bridgman        Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.762 + 0.914   12
 8.  James Walker        Dallara F305 Opel Spiess  1:07.766 + 0.918   20
 9.  Danilo Dirani       Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda   1:07.773 + 0.925   14
10.  Dan Clarke          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:07.796 + 0.948   17
11.  Bruno Senna         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:08.084 + 1.236   22
12.  Steven Kane         Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda   1:08.089 + 1.241   22
13.  Barton Mawer        Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:08.364 + 1.516   17
14.  Stephen Jelley      Dallara F305 Opel Spiess  1:08.383 + 1.535   24
15.  Ronayne O'mahony    Dallara F305 Opel Spiess  1:08.480 + 1.632   22
16.  Charlie Hollings    Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen H  1:08.693 + 1.845   20
17.  Jonathan Kennard    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:08.927 + 2.079   20
18.  Salvador Duran      Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:08.947 + 2.099   15
19.  Juho Annala         Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:08.980 + 2.132   21
20.  Josh Fisher         Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:09.223 + 2.375   19
21.  Ricardo Teixeira    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:10.137 + 3.289   21
22.  Keiko Ihara         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  1:10.230 + 3.382   19
23.  Cheong Lou Meng     Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:11.386 + 4.538   20
24.  Nick Jones          Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  1:11.685 + 4.837   20