Carlin's Jamie Caroline claimed his maiden BRDC British F3 Championship pole position in a thrilling qualifying session on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Caroline improved his time by fractions on each lap, with the eventual margin being just 0.062s from team mate Nicolai Kjaergaard, who posted his fastest effort right at the end of the session, and just as the red flags came out as Caroline spun exiting the final corner, and made light contact with the pit wall. Kjaergaard’s final lap pipped Billy Monger to the front row spot by just 0.011s, with Carlin taking a 1-2-3 in qualifying.

Championship leader Linus Lundqvist was also in the fight for pole, but could only manage the fourth quickest time and just over a tenth of a second away from Caroline's best effort.

Sun Yue Yang continued his promising weekend so far with the fifth fastest time, 0.020s ahead of Lanan Racing's Kush Maini, who was sixth quickest.

Krishnaraaj Mahadik claimed seventh for Double R Racing, with Tom Gamble and Manuel Maldonado eighth and ninth for Fortec Motorsports. Sasakorn Chaimongkol completed the top-10 for Hillspeed.

The exciting session saw a shoot out for pole between the Carlin drivers, with Caroline first to hit the top of the timing screens with five minutes elapsed of the session with a time of 1m22.096s. Caroline's next effort shaved four tenths off time, while Monger came close with a time within 0.090s.

Monger then took over at the top, claiming provisional pole by just 0.023s, while Lundqvist also joined the party with the top three covered by just 0.046s at this stage. Caroline then reclaimed the top spot with a 1m21.637s effort that put him 0.032s quicker than Monger, before finally putting in his last effort to shave off a few more fractions to take his first pole, with Kjaergaard's late improvement not quite enough to steal it away.

Lundqvist meanwhile spent the final five minutes of the session in the pit lane, while red flags ensured there would be no further last gasp improvements to challenge Caroline.

Race one for the BRDC British F3 Championship at Brands Hatch starts at 17.35, with live timing and updates available on the BRDC British F3 website.

BRDC British F3 Championship, Brands Hatch GP circuit, qualifying result:

1. Jamie Caroline, Carlin, 1m21.596s

2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, +0.062s

3. Billy Monger, Carlin, +0.073s

4. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, +0.119s

5. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +0.359s

6. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +0.379s

7. Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +0.442s

8. Tom Gamble, Fortec Motorsports, +0.614s

9. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +0.808s

10. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +1.181s

11. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +1.250s

12. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, +1.473s

13. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, +1.652s

14. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, +2.074s

15. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +2.305s

16. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +2.324s