Keanu Al Azhari claimed pole position for the opening Eurocup-3 race at Silverstone after edging Ean Eyckmans by less than a tenth of a second in a closely fought Qualifying 1.
The Hitech GP driver set a 1:51.242 to secure the top spot, continuing a remarkable turnaround after a difficult start to the Silverstone weekend.
Al Azhari had endured a challenging Official Test earlier on Friday, ending up in the gravel and bringing out a red flag. Conditions improved significantly by the afternoon, however, with the qualifying sessions taking place on a dry track.
The Emirati driver moved to the top of the order with six minutes remaining, initially setting a 1:51.244 before improving by two thousandths on his final attempt.
Eyckmans came closest to challenging for pole, finishing just 0.089 seconds behind in his MP Motorsport car.
René Lammers completed the top three, with championship leader James Egozi fourth for Palou Motorsport.
Patrick Heuzenroeder put in a strong performance to take fifth for Campos, while Bart Harrison secured sixth for Double R.
Santino Panetta was seventh for Hitech GP, ahead of teammate Gianmarco Pradel in eighth. Stefan Bostandjiev completed a strong showing for Hitech in ninth, while Heitor Dall’Agnol rounded out the top ten for Palou Motorsport.
Enzo Tarnvanichkul was 11th ahead of Kacper Sztuka, with Christopher El Feghali 13th and Francisco Macedo 14th.
The result gave Al Azhari the best possible starting position for Saturday’s opening race, while Egozi was forced to begin from fourth as he continued his championship campaign.
With the field separated by only a few tenths, the first Eurocup-3 race of the weekend was set up for a close fight at the front.
2026 Eurocup-3: Silverstone: Qualifying 1: Final results
- #14 Keanu Al Azhari — Hitech — 1:51.242
- #4 Ean Eyckmans (R) — MP Motorsport — +0.089s
- #99 René Lammers (R) — MP Motorsport — +0.289s
- #48 James Egozi — Palou Motorsport — +0.314s
- #5 Patrick Heuzenroeder — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.327s
- #77 Bart Harrison (R) — Double R — +0.360s
- #39 Santino Panetta (R) — Hitech — +0.406s
- #12 Gianmarco Pradel — MP Motorsport — +0.450s
- #23 Stefan Bostandjiev — Hitech — +0.552s
- #27 Heitor Dall’Agnol (R) — Palou Motorsport — +0.681s
- #10 Enzo Tarnvanichkul — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.702s
- #2 Kacper Sztuka — Tecnicar by Amtog — +0.710s
- #7 Christopher El Feghali (R) — Drivex — +0.716s
- #44 Francisco Macedo — GRS — +0.864s
- #9 Thomas Strauven (R) — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.923s
- #84 Genaro Trappa (R) — Hitech — +0.943s
- #11 Valentine Kluss — TC Racing — +1.083s
- #33 Rafaël Pérard (R) — Palou Motorsport — +1.221s
- #44 Rayan Caretti (R) — GRS — +1.262s
- #91 Lorenzo Campos (R) — Double R — +1.315s
- #8 Alceu Feldmann — MP Motorsport — +1.550s
- #37 Filippo Fiorentino (R) — Drivex — +1.600s
- #31 Renzo Barbuy (R) — TC Racing — +1.862s
- #16 Bianca Bustamante — Palou Motorsport — +1.885s
- #22 Nacho Tuñón — Tecnicar by Amtog — +1.899s
- #26 James Hedley — Double R — +2.199s
- #6 Stylianos Kolovos (R) — Drivex — +2.351s
- #20 Benjamin Beckley (R) — Tecnicar by Amtog — +3.462s
- #3 Sam Urus (R) — Drivex — +5.031s
No Time #22 Dani Maciá (R) — Tecnicar by Amtog
