Evans snatches pole in Silverstone

Mitch Evans

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

*10 place grid penalty which will be applied for Race 1.