Evans blazes to Valencia pole

Mitch Evans

New Zealander Mitch Evans stormed to pole in today’s qualifying session at the Valencia Street Circuit in a sweltering session and he will be joined by his MW Arden teammate David Fumanelli on the front row. GP3 Series leader Aaro Vainio will start in P3.

The thirty minute qualifying session got underway with temperatures of 24 degrees, as the heat intensified on and off the track for the fierce battle for pole. The Lotus GP trio were first to make their way onto track with Conor Daly on a mission as the American has a ten place grid penalty applied to his qualifying position for Race 1 later today. After the initial installation laps, it was Evans who led the pack in front of Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) until Kevin Ceccon (Ocean Racing Technology) and Fumanelli displaced the Cypriot.

Evans was the first driver to break into the 1’58s barrier and held position at the top of the timings at the midway point. With 12 minutes remaining, Vainio snatched provisional pole just one tenth faster than the New Zealander. Daly rose to P4 with Fumanelli going P1 until his teammate improved on his time by a mere 0.033s.

(L to R) Fumanelli, Evans, and Vainio

In the final three minutes, Ceccon grabbed P3, demoting Vainio but the Finn battled back to reclaim his position. Traffic played a big part towards the ends of the session with Jenzer Motorsport’s Patric Niederhauser having stopped on the start/finish straight which caused the yellow flags to come out meaning drivers had to lift off on their final attempt.

Evans clinched his third pole of his GP3 career with Fumanelli achieving a career best in second. Vainio in P3 starts ahead of Ceccon, Antonio Felix Da Costa (Carlin) and Ellinas. Daly qualified P7 but will line up 17th. Matias Laine (MW Arden), Marlon Stockinger (Status Grand Prix) and Daniel Abt complete the top ten.

Qualifying

Pos	Driver	Team	Lap time	Laps
1.	Mitch Evans	MW Arden	1:58.478	12
2.	David Fumanelli	MW Arden	1:58.511	11
3.	Aaro Vainio	Lotus GP	1:58.567	13
4.	Kevin Ceccon	Ocean Racing Technology	1:58.772	12
5.	Antonio Felix Da Costa	Carlin	1:58.991	13
6.	Tio Ellinas	Marussia Manor Racing	1:59.009	12
7.	Conor Daly*	Lotus GP	1:59.015	12
8.	Matias Laine	MW Arden	1:59.031	12
9.	Marlon Stockinger	Status Grand Prix	1:59.091	12
10.	Daniel Abt	Lotus GP	1:59.276	13
11.	Tamas Pal Kiss	Atech CRS GP	1:59.332	14
12.	William Buller	Carlin	1:59.356	12
13.	Alice Powell	Status Grand Prix	1:59.399	12
14.	Robert Visoiu	Jenzer Motorsport	1:59.568	13
15.	Fabiano Machado	Marussia Manor Racing	1:59.708	13
16.	Alex Brundle	Carlin	1:59.820	12
17.	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport	1:59.906	12
18.	John Wartique	Atech CRS GP	2:00.047	14
19.	Dmitry Suranovich	Marussia Manor Racing	2:00.062	13
20.	Robert Cregan	Ocean Racing Technology	2.00.306	13
21.	Antonio Spavone	Trident Racing	2.00.334	13
22.	Vicky Piria	Trident Racing	2.00.406	13
23.	Ethan Ringel	Atech CRS GP	2.01.300	13
24.	Carmen Jorda	Ocean Racing Technology	2.02.103	12

*Conor Daly will start from 17th after a ten place grid penalty