Turvey takes second pole for Carlin
Once again, the Carlin drivers waited 10 minutes before hitting the track for qualifying, with Sam Abay the first to leave the pits. The Australian F3 rookie’s first lap was enough to put him second on the timing screens, but in the space of a few seconds, three Carlin drivers took provisional pole, with Hartley going P1, followed by Abay and then Turvey.
Pushing to improve his lap times further, Turvey went even quicker with 10 minutes of the session remaining, setting a time nearly five tenths quicker than second placed man Marcus Ericsson to confirm his place as pole sitter. A yellow flag with nine minutes to go put a halt to any improvements, and at the end of the session it was Turvey on pole, Abay third, Hartley fourth and Alguersuari seventh. In the National Class Kristjan Einar will line up sixth.
Pole sitter Turvey said, “I feel a lot happier about my performance today, yesterday I got pole, but I didn’t get the perfect lap together. Today I did two laps good enough to get pole and it all came together. Jimmy, my engineer and my mechanics have done a great job with the car and the team are clearly fast here. We’re on pole by quite a big margin, which is fantastic around such a difficult circuit as this, it’s a real drivers’ track and I just love it out there. Hopefully we can convert the poles into wins."
Taking part in his first event at Spa, Sam Abay was delighted to be at the front of the grid, “The track felt quite different from yesterday, the grip level was different and I think the drop in temperature probably helped. It was a bit unfortunate that there was a yellow flag as I felt that I could have gone a little a bit quicker, although it wouldn’t have been enough to catch Turvey, as he’s very quick around here. Spa is very high speed, it’s very fast and flowing, and I think it suits my driving style quite well. Hopefully I will be able to continue that good pace in the races."
A delighted Trevor Carlin added, “Oliver did a fantastic job once again to take pole position, his fastest lap was absolutely stunning. I think Sam deserves particular praise, he’s never raced or tested here before, and has come along and qualified in the top four for both races. I hope that everything will come together for him in the races and he can turn that into his first podium finish. The team did a great job once again, racing is always a different story to qualifying, but we’re looking good for some strong results this weekend."