Felix Rosenqvist and Will Buller earn first F3 Euro Series poles in Austria
Felix Rosenqvist and Will Buller took their maiden F3 Euro Series pole positions after a dramatic end to a tense qualifying session at Spielberg
Swede Rosenqvist had held the top spot with a third of the session gone, but was sent down the field as a succession of drivers, including Carlos Sainz Jr, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello took their turns to go fastest.
With just two minutes to go though, the Swede produced a lap in 1m26.457s in his Mercedes-engined Mucke Motorsport Dallara to take pole for Sunday's third race.
However, he was unable to lap anywhere near as quickly during the rest of the session, and with the grid for Saturday's race being based on each driver's second best lap, he will start down in seventh.
Carlin driver Buller, fifth fastest overall, produced a second-best lap within seven hundredths of his quickest lap, which was enough for pole for race one in his Volkswagen-powered Dallara.
Joining him on the front row on Saturday morning will be Prema Powerteam driver Marciello, while Sainz and Pascal Wehrlein in the second Carlin and Mucke cars fill row two. Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) and Rosenqvist are behind them.
After Rosenqvist in race three will be Prema's championship leader Juncadella, who leapt up into pole contention after spending the first 25 minutes outside the top 10 with a slow puncture, Wehrlein, Marciello, Buller and Sainz.
Tom Blomqvist had his best Euro Series qualifying of the year, the ma-con driver ninth and seventh while Sven Muller (Prema) took a pair of eighths.
The only real incidents in the session came early on when Blomqvist's team-mate Emil Bernstorff and URD driver Lucas Wolf each took a trip through the gravel at the Lauda Kurve.
Race one grid: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.721s 2. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.738s + 0.017s 3. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.821s + 0.100s 4. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.875s + 0.154s 5. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.919s + 0.198s 6. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m27.046s + 0.325s 7. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m27.118s + 0.397s 8. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Merc 1m27.124s + 0.403s 9. Tom Blomqvist ma-con Dallara-VW 1m27.189s + 0.468s 10. Emil Bernstorff ma-con Dallara-VW 1m27.977s + 1.256s 11. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m28.010s + 1.289s 12. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc 1m28.077s + 1.356s 13. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 1m28.154s + 1.433s 14. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Mer 1m28.171s + 1.450s 15. Philip Ellis GU Dallara-Merc 1m29.114s + 2.393s 16. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Merc 1m29.183s + 2.462s Race three grid: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.457s 2. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.495s + 0.038s 3. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.650s + 0.193s 4. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.660s + 0.203s 5. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.675s + 0.218s 6. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.679s + 0.222s 7. Tom Blomqvist ma-con Dallara-VW 1m26.767s + 0.310s 8. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.906s + 0.449s 9. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.989s + 0.532s 10. Emil Bernstorff ma-con Dallara-VW 1m27.497s + 1.040s 11. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 1m27.585s + 1.128s 12. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m27.722s + 1.265s 13. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc 1m27.774s + 1.317s 14. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m28.163s + 1.706s 15. Philip Ellis GU Dallara-Merc 1m28.705s + 2.248s 16. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Merc 1m28.789s + 2.332s
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