Carlin's Nicolai Kjaergaard claimed his fourth BRDC British F3 victory of the season with a controlled drive in the opening race of the weekend at Donington Park, to eat into Linus Lundqvist's championship lead.

Kjaergaard stole the headlines from teammate Billy Monger, who had claimed an emotional maiden British F3 pole position on his Donington Park return this morning. 

Kjaergaard made a lighting start in tricky conditions to take the lead on the run down to the first corner, and fended off a late charge from Jamie Caroline to seal the win. Caroline claimed second with Krishnaraaj Mahadik third ahead of Monger.

Qualifying
On his first competitive outing at Donington Park since his life-changing F4 accident at the circuit in April 2017, Monger claimed his first ever pole position in BRDC British F3 by a clear margin.

In a frantic session, Monger constantly picked up his pace and eventually set two laps good enough for pole position in the final five minutes.

Kjaergaard was among many drivers to sit at the top of the times at some point, but his effort was eclipsed by Monger's late lap. Chris Dittmann Racing's Ayrton Simmons claimed third on the grid, 0.024s ahead of Hillspeed's Jusuf Owega, with Manuel Maldonado fifth for Fortec Motorsports. 

Jamie Caroline was sixth fastest for Carlin, ahead of Lanan Racing's Kush Maini, who had several spells at the top of the times before ultimately settling for seventh. 

Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Sasakorn Chaimongkol and Jamie Chadwick completed the top-10, separated by less than seven tenths of a second. 

Less than a second covered Monger in pole down to championship leader Linus Lundqvist, in an uncharacteristic 14th place.

The session came to an early halt when Ben Hurst spun into the gravel with five minutes on the clock, with Chadwick and Owega setting the pace initially. 

When the session resumed, it immediately became clear that Monger was on a mission, going second with his first flying lap after the restart, before Maini, Simmons, Owega and Kjaergaard took turns at the top of the standings. Monger though kept popping up in second place, constantly shaving fractions off Kjaergaard's time.

But inside the final five minutes, Monger finally took over at the top, with a comparatively comfortable margin of around two tenths over the Danish driver. Monger was able to improve again with his last effort, and despite a late effort from Kjaergaard, had enough to spare to claim his first ever pole in British F3, and scoop a £150 prize as part of the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup.

Race one
Kjaergaard got the jump on Monger at the start, and then led the contest throughout, keeping his cool under late pressure from Caroline, who rose from sixth on the grid to claim second, with Mahadik taking the final podium spot in third.

Monger claimed fourth, having fallen as far back as sixth at one point, with the British driver fending off a race-long battle with Lanan Racing's Maini. Simmons held a podium spot for Chris Dittmann Racing for much of the race, but dropped back to sixth by the chequered flag.

Fortec's Maldonado claimed seventh, while Double R's championship leader Lundqvist climbed from 14th on the grid to take eighth, with Simmons, Maldonado and Lundqvist separated by half a second at the chequered flag.

Hillspeed's Jusuf Owega and Douglas Motorsport's Jamie Chadwick completed the top-10. 

At the start, Monger made a stuttering get away from pole position, with Kjaergaard already into the lead by the time the field reached Redgate corner, leaving the British driver to fend off the challenges of Simmons on the opening lap.

Kjaergaard's lead was over 1.7 seconds at the end of lap one with Monger holding off Simmons, while Caroline's decent start saw him climb up two places in the opening stages. 

It wasn't plain sailing for Kjaergaard, Simmons passed Monger on lap two and cut Kjaergaard's lead to 0.8s, while Monger dropped to sixth, promoting Caroline into the podium places.

Simmons continued to threaten Kjaergaard on lap three, but a charging Caroline moved past the Chris Dittmann Racing driver on lap four and then set his sights on his Danish team mate. 

Kjaergaard held a lead of 2.3 seconds in the next few laps, but Caroline began to close that back down again, narrowing the gap to 1.6s on lap eight, and less than a second by the penultimate lap, with the Danish driver's fourth win of the season coming by just 0.752s.

Mahadik was almost 11 seconds further back, having climbed from eighth on the grid to the podium. Mahadik was in the middle of one of the best scraps of the race, exchanging positions with Simmons on several occasions before cementing the podium spot on lap 10. 

Monger fought back from his early troubles to claim fourth. He began his fightback by passing Maldonado on lap six, and then claimed fourth when Simmons slipped back on the penultimate lap. Throughout, Monger was almost constantly fending off attention from Maini, with Monger only breaking clear of the battle in the final stages, when he began to threaten for the podium again as Mahadik and Simmons fought for position.

Maini settled for fifth in the end on his 18th birthday, having been as close as 0.116s to Monger, and was comfortably clear of Simmons, who seemed destined for the podium only to slip back on lap 11. 

Maldonado dropped from fifth on the grid to finish seventh, having ran as high as fourth in the opening stages, while Lundqvist's recovery from 14th on the grid started with a five place gain on lap one. He fell back to 10th shortly after, but made a move stick on Owega on lap nine, and then climbed up to eighth. 

Owega fell from fourth on the grid to eighth on the opening lap, though secured another top-10 result with ninth, with Chadwick starting 10th and holding the position at the flag.

Series newcomers Hampus Ericsson and Cian Carey finished 13th and 19th respectively for Fortec and Chris Dittmann Racing respectively. The top three drivers were presented with their trophies on the podium by BTCC race winner and BRDC member Adam Morgan. 

The second race of the weekend starts at 11am tomorrow morning (Sunday). 

BRDC British F3 Championship, Donington Park qualifying top-10:
1. Billy Monger, Carlin, 1m24.769s
2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, +0.173s
3. Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.231s
4. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, +0.255s
5. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +0.514s
6. Jamie Caroline, Carlin, +0.584s
7. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +0.586s
8. Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +0.632s
9. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +0.667s
10. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +0.691s

BRDC British F3 Championship, Donington Park race one top-10:
1. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, 12 laps
2. Jamie Caroline, Carlin, +0.752s
3. Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Double R Racing, +11.471s
4. Billy Monger, Carlin, +13.742s
5. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +15.354s
6. Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +17.156s
7. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +17.343s
8. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, +17.560s
9. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, +19.570s
10. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +20.354s