Qualifying at Silverstone saw Racing Engineering’s Norman Nato set the fastest time putting him on pole position for Saturday’s 29 lap Feature Race while Jordan King, whose fastest lap was aborted by a red flag, qualified 8th but a post-session penalty to Sirotkin promoted him to 7th. It was cool again at the circuit with air and track temperatures of 21° and 28° and the skies were very cloudy. The two Racing Engineering drivers were starting on the Pirelli P Zero Orange hard compound tyres but some of the other drivers had opted for the Yellow soft compound.
Norman made a very good start as the lights went off, immediately opening out several car lengths over Gasly and he had a 1.9 second lead at the end of the first lap. The gap remained very close over the next few laps but it then began to grow and by lap six it was 2.2 seconds and it was clear that Gasly, who had opted for the soft compound tyres, was now beginning to struggle and he pitted on the end of lap six and Norman now led his Racing Engineering teammate by 3.3 seconds. As the cars started the fifteenth lap, the halfway point of the race, Norman was leading Jordan by 2.1 seconds and he was being careful not to overuse his tyres.
Norman’s lead had dropped to 1.2 seconds on lap eighteen as Jordan began to close in on him and on lap 21 Norman took his mandatory pitstop to change to the Yellow soft compound tyres and he resumed the track in 11th place. On lap twenty-three Norman was up to 8th as he set his fastest lap of the race and two laps later he was 7th and battling hard with Evans. The young Frenchman and the Campos Racing car were now closing in on the cars ahead and on the final lap of the race Norman had closed right in on Mutsushita and Ghiotto but time ran out before he could pass and he finished in 7th.
Jordan made a fantastic getaway passing three cars into the first corner and then overtook Latifi around the outside at the end of the lap to lie 3rd as the cars started lap two. Jordan began to close in Gasly and at the end of lap six he dived inside the Frenchman to take 2nd place and make it a Racing Engineering 1-2. On lap nine Jordan was leading Latifi by 0.6 seconds and the DAMS driver was, in turn, ahead of a group of five cars separated by just two seconds. Lap fifteen and Jordan was 2.1 seconds behind his teammate and he was leading Latifi by 0.9 seconds and, like Norman, he was being careful not to put too much stress on his Pirellis.
By lap nineteen Jordan was just 1.8 seconds behind Norman and he had now opened out a gap of 2.0 seconds over the new third-placed driver, Markelov, who began to close in on the young British driver and on lap twenty-two Jordan pitted for some soft Pirellis, dropping to 12th position. The Racing Engineering driver was soon gaining positions and he passed Latifi for 9th on lap twenty-five and he was now chasing Norman again but there were not enough laps remaining and he had to settle for 8th at the flag.
Both of the Racing Engineering cars finished in the points again and for the second race in a row they will be starting first and second on the grid for today’s Sprint Race and both must be considered strong favourites for the win given the pace they have shown.
