In the first dry running of the weekend at the Northamptonshire circuit, Mitch Evans claimed his second pole of the season at Silverstone ahead of this afternoon’s race with a laptime of: 1:51.892 which was 0.324s faster than Lotus GP’s Aaro Vainio.
After the torrential downpour for Friday’s Free Practice, GP3 were greeted to cool but dry conditions for qualifying as the 27 drivers made their way onto the circuit to set their installation laps. There was a large puddle which did catch a number of drivers out as they battled to keep control of their cars from sliding off.
Conor Daly was first to set the pace, until Carlin’s Antonio Felix Da Costa grabbed P1. Daly who faces a ten place grid penalty after an incident in Valencia was keen to set a flyer in qualifying and jumped to the top of timesheets, over half a second quicker than the Portuguese star. Vainio went P2 until Brit’ William Buller split the Lotus GP pairing.
Vainio, Evans, Felix Da Costa: Qualifying Top 3 Silverstone 2012
Felix Da Costa was hot on the pace and regained his place at the head of the timings until Vainio stole it back. It was a great tussle for pole and the Finn remained on provisional pole until 18 seconds before the session ended when New Zealander Evans produced a flier to secure pole for Race 1 and claim four vital points for the championship. The MW Arden ace had been quietly moving his way up the timings throughout the session after a fierce battle at the top.
Therefore, Evans heads the front row, with his main rival for the GP3 crown starting alongside him. Felix Da Costa finished P3, ahead of Matias Laine, Daly, Daniel Abt, Kevin Ceccon, Buller, Kotaro Sakurai and David Fumanelli.
Race 1 starts at 16.20 local time.
Qualifying
Pos
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Mitch Evans
MW Arden
1:51.892
13
2.
Aaro Vainio
Lotus GP
1:52.216
13
3.
Antonio Felix Da Costa
Carlin
1:52.233
13
4.
Matias Laine
MW Arden
1:52.332
14
5.
Conor Daly*
Lotus GP
1:52.519
12
6.
Daniel Abt
Lotus GP
1:52.543
13
7.
Kevin Ceccon
Ocean Racing Technology
1:52.572
13
8.
William Buller
Carlin
1.52.648
13
9.
Kotaro Sakurai
Status Grand Prix
1:52.807
14
10.
David Fumanelli
MW Arden
1:52.921
12
11.
Tamas Pal Kiss*
Atech CRS GP
1:52.930
12
12.
Alex Brundle
Carlin
1:53.133
13
13.
Tio Ellinas
Marussia Manor Racing
1:53.536
9
14.
Facu Regalia
Jenzer Motorsport
1:53.549
13
15.
Giovanni Venturini
Trident Racing
1:53.624
13
16.
Vicky Piria
Trident Racing
1:53.769
14
17.
Alice Powell
Status Grand Prix
1:53.852
13
18.
Robert Visoiu
Jenzer Motorsport
1:53.861
14
19.
Patric Niederhauser
Jenzer Motorsport
1:53.893
12
20.
Dmitry Suranovich
Marussia Manor Racing
1:54.324
14
21.
Antonio Spavone
Trident Racing
1:54.339
13
22.
Fabiano Machado
Marussia Manor Racing
1:54.427
13
23.
Fabio Gamberini
Atech CRS GP
1:55.175
12
24.
Robert Cregan
Ocean Racing Technology
1:55.363
12
25.
Marlon Stockinger
Status Grand Prix
1:55.711
7
26.
Ethan Ringel*
Atech CRS GP
1:59.371
10
27.
Carmen Jorda
Ocean Racing Technology
1:59.989
12
*10 place grid penalty which will be applied for Race 1.
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