Chilton takes pole again in British F3

Max Chilton

Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo made a dramatic early exit from today's qualifying session for the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, the Australian sliding off the track and into a gravel trap to dent his hopes of a position at the sharp end of the grid for Silverstone's third round of the championship.

Ricciardo's Carlin Motorsport teammate Max Chilton made the most of Dan's absence from the track in the closing stages of the session to bag pole position – his second of the season – with what he described as a 'near perfect' lap in his AON-backed Dallara-Volkswagen.

"It was very nearly perfect," said Max. "I made perhaps a couple of very small errors but I got a couple of good tows, which helped. Now I have to concentrate on making a perfect start to the race…" Chilton's last time on pole, at Oulton Park, ended in a disastrous jump start.

Ricciardo's drama in the Red Bull-liveried Dallara-Volkswagen came at Copse, where a wheel on the grass led to a quick exit from the circuit. "I'm still not quite sure what happened," said Daniel, "it might have been my error or maybe something broke. I went on the grass and that was that. Luckily I didn't hit anything solid." Ricciardo, the victor of rounds one and two, will start round three from 11th on the grid, well behind all three of his team-mates.

The sensation of qualifying was flying Dutchman Renger van der Zande, a last-minute addition to the Hitech Racing team alongside regular driver Walter GrubmÃ¼ller, who posted second-best time in his Mercedes-powered Dallara, just two-hundredths adrift of Chilton. "I am very pleased because it is my first time on this circuit, my first time with Hitech and my first time on Cooper tires," said Renger. What experience van der Zande lacks in British F3 is more than made for by his race-winning exploits over two seasons in the F3 Euroseries.

Young Brazilian Adriano Buzaid scored his best qualifying result of the season with third for the T-Sport team. Daisuke Nakajima and Riki Christodoulou will line up behind him; the top five all broke the 1m 40s barrier to lop more than 3.5 seconds from the Grand Prix circuit's three-year-old lap record.

In the National Class, Brazilian Gabriel Dias (T-Sport) beat class points leader Daniel McKenzie to the class pole by a tenth of a second.

Round 3 qualifying times, Silverstone GP
Sunny, dry
1 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:39.798
2 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 1:39.819
3 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:39.867
4 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 1:39.911
5 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 1:39.929
6 INT Walter GrubmÃ¼ller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 1:40.201
7 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:40.327
8 INT Oliver Oakes/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:40.376
9 INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 1:40.424
10 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:40.543
11 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1:40.905
12 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 1:40.949
13 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1:40.974
14 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1:41.111
15 INT Nick Tandy/GBR, JTR Mygale-Mercedes, 1:41.210
16 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1:41.323
17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 1:43.201
18 INT Stéphane Richelmi/MON, Barazi-Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, 1:43.431
19 NAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1:44.142