McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck takes pole on British F4 debut

McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck has claimed pole position on his car racing debut in British Formula 4 at Donington Park.

Van Langendonck, who only becomes old enough to compete in the championship today on his 15th birthday, set the fastest lap of the session towards the end of qualifying to jump to the top of the times. His time of 1m28.777s was 0.118 seconds quicker than the next fastest driver, and would not be beaten.

Tommy Harfield was second fastest overall, but his second fastest lap time was enough for pole position in the first race of the weekend.

Jimmy Piszcyk set the pace early on, but there was plenty of time to be found during the 20 minute session. Van Langendonck jumped up to second, just 0.009s behind his Rodin Motorsport team-mate, but slipped down the order as others found improvement.

While most of the field returned to the pits for fresh tyres, Van Langendonck stayed out to set the fastest lap of the race, putting himself on provisional pole.