Quinn to start Brands finale in P7
Newly crowned F4 British Championship Rookie class champion Alex Quinn qualified in seventh place for the opening race of the final weekend of the season, in a very wet and disrupted session around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent.
The Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver, who wrapped up his maiden car racing title at the previous round at Silverstone, was looking to round off the season on a high despite not having previously competed at the circuit in a single-seater car.
Quinn’s task would prove even tougher with weather conditions taking a turn for the worse; the Fortec Motorsports driver having to experience wet weather driving around the track for the first time after dry conditions during the previous day’s practice sessions.
Any time to adjust to the wet track was hindered after only three minutes when, having set the quickest early lap of the session, Quinn’s team-mate Jamie Caroline headed off into the gravel at Druids causing a red flag stoppage.
A second red flag was flown shortly after the restart, as a second Fortec car headed for the gravel – this time Frank Bird ditched his Mygale machine at Paddock Hill.
During the brief green flag period in between the stoppages, Quinn had been unable to improve on his early sighting lap time, demoting him to 14th position.
Upon the second restart with seven minutes of the session remaining, Quinn did improve on his final lap before the chequered flag, setting a best of 1m 44.493s which was good enough for an eighth place start in the opening race.
But due to the stop-start nature of the session combined with Quinn’s lack of experience around the circuit in wet conditions, his second best time which is used to form the grid for the final race of the weekend, was only good enough for 14th place.
Having had his car recovered from the gravel bed and back to the pit lane, Jamie Caroline returned to the track to once again set the fastest lap of the session to score pole position for races one and three.
However, following post-qualifying scrutineering, Caroline was excluded from the provisional results for “technical infringements” to his Fortec Motorsports car.
This therefore promoted Quinn a single place to seventh on the grid, also benefiting Carlin’s Max Fewtrell to pole position alongside team-mate James Pull.
BRANDS HATCH GP: (3.908km / 2.433 miles): Qualifying results (top 10)
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Driver (Nat)
Max Fewtrell (GBR)
James Pull (GBR)
Luis Leeds (AUS)
Ayrton Simmons (GBR) / R
Rafael Martins (BRA)
Frank Bird (GBR)
Alex Quinn (GBR) / R
Sennan Fielding (GBR)
Nicolaj Kjaergaard (DEN) / R
Zane Goddard (AUS)
Team / Car
Carlin
Carlin
TRS Arden
TRS Arden
TRS Arden
Fortec
Fortec
JHR
Fortec
Double R
Time / Gap
1m43.064s
+0.090s
+0.565s
+0.699s
+0.790s
+1.131s
+1.429s
+1.560s
+1.708s
+1.744s
BRANDS HATCH GP: 2nd fastest time Qualifying results (top 10)
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
14
Driver (Nat)
Max Fewtrell (GBR)
Ayrton Simmons (GBR) / R
James Pull (GBR)
Frank Bird (GBR)
Luis Leeds (AUS)
Sennan Fielding (GBR)
Petru Florescu (ROM)
Zane Goddard (AUS)
Rafael Martins (BRA)
Devlin DeFrancesco (CAN)
Alex Quinn (GBR) / R
Team / Car
Carlin
TRS Arden
Carlin
Fortec
TRS Arden
JHR
Carlin
Double R
TRS Arden
Carlin
Fortec
Time / Gap
1m43.469s
+0.590s
+0.665s
+0.756s
+0.946s
+1.344s
+1.374s
+1.472s
+1.805s
+1.827s
+2.908s
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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography.
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Report: Racing Steps Foundation - Russell Hayes, Racing Steps Foundation PR & Communications Manager