Williams junior driver Luke Browning took a home pole position for the Formula 3 feature race with his final lap around a drying track at Silverstone.
Browning set the fastest time at the chequered flag as the wet track dried rapidly, taking pole just ahead of Max Esterson.
After the earlier practice session was held on a wet track, the track had dried out following F2 and Formula 1 practice. However, the threat of rain hung over the Silverstone circuit when the session began, making the early flying laps crucial.
However, several drivers lost their first lap times of the session due to exceeding track limits at the exit of Copse corner. Williams junior Browning and Ferrari prospect Dino Beganovic were among those who had their first flying laps deleted, although Browning managed to put in a legal lap time soon after.
Of those who set a lap without attracting the attention of the stewards, Noel Leon topped the times ahead of McLaren junior Alex Dunne in the early phase of the session. However, with just over ten minutes elapsed in the session, rain began to fall. This left Beganovic with a major problem as he was still yet to set a legitimate lap time.
As the track grew damp, drivers returned to the pits with little hope of improving. However, Browning returned to the track to gain some experience in the wet conditions having missed out on doing any meaningful running in the earlier wet practice session.
In the closing minutes, the rain stopped. Beganovic headed out in a desperate attempt to try and find some more time, but a trip over the rain-soaked grass on the outside of Abbey demonstrated just how low the grip levels were. However, the track began to dry rapidly and drivers started to improve – leaving Leon and Dunne extremely vulnerable given they had chosen to remain in the pits.
At the chequered flag, several drivers improved. But Browning posted the best lap of all of those who improved, going quickest of all with a 1’44.992. Max Esterson was within half a tenth of the Williams junior in second, with Sami Meguetounif in third. Championship contender Leonardo Fornaroli qualified fourth ahead of Laurens van Hoepen, Charlie Wurz, Christian Mansell, Nikola Tsolov, Callum Voisin and Matias Zagazeta completing the top 10.
Leon and Dunne fell down to 12th and 13th, respectively, ahead of Alpine junior Gabriele Mini. Beganovic managed to improve to 19th at the end of the session. Leon will start on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s sprint race.
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