Pascal Wehrlein and Raffaele Marciello take F3 poles at the Norisring while Pietro Fantin is best British F3 runner
Formula 3 rookie Pascal Wehrlein proved his fondness for street circuits by taking fastest time in qualifying for the combined European/Euro Series/British round at the Norisring on Saturday morning
Wehrlein, who was also quick at the Pau track several weeks ago, leapt to the top of the times in the closing stages of a session in which he had been a contender throughout, and will start tomorrow's race from the front.
But the Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes driver missed out on pole for Saturday's race, with FIA European F3 points leader Raffaele Marciello topping the list of second-fastest times in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.
The spectacular Will Buller was sitting atop the times with a few minutes remaining, but the Briton looped his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen into a spin at the Scholler 'S' behind the start-finish straight and was third by the end.
Buller will share the second row of the grid for both races with Prema's Daniel Juncadella, the Euro Series points leader.
Meanwhile, Pietro Fantin showed vastly improved form by heading the British F3 field, fifth overall in his Carlin machine. "I've had a really good car since yesterday," said the Brazilian. "I'd never driven here before but this track really suits me, with the heavy braking points. I just need a good start and want to concentrate on scoring maximum points in the British championship."
Fortec Motorsport trio Felix Serralles, Pipo Derani and Hannes van Asseldonk also finished in the top 10 overall, although Serralles drops to 11th on second-best times.
British F3 series leader Jazeman Jaafar was in the top five overall on his first set of tyres, but ran into traffic on his second and ended up outside the top 10. Nevertheless, he qualified ahead of Carlin team-mate and main title rival Jack Harvey. The other Carlin driver in the hunt for the British title, Carlos Sainz Jr, outqualified both and is seventh on the grid for Saturday's race.
Race one qualifying: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 49.254s 2. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.271s + 0.017s 3. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 49.273s + 0.019s 4. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW 49.327s + 0.073s 5. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 49.376s + 0.122s 6. Emil Bernstorff Ma-con Dallara-VW 49.500s + 0.246s 7. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 49.567s + 0.313s 8. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.571s + 0.317s 9. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.578s + 0.324s 10. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc 49.580s + 0.326s 11. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.582s + 0.328s 12. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 49.631s + 0.377s 13. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.684s + 0.430s 14. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 49.727s + 0.473s 15. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 49.743s + 0.489s 16. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Merc 49.746s + 0.492s 17. Tom Blomqvist Ma-con Dallara-VW 49.758s + 0.504s 18. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.819s + 0.565s 29. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 49.866s + 0.612s 20. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 49.889s + 0.635s 21. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 49.922s + 0.668s 22. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.959s + 0.705s 23. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 50.114s + 0.860s 24. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 50.174s + 0.920s 25. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Merc 50.318s + 1.064s 26. Philip Ellis GU Dallara-Merc 50.599s + 1.345s 27. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 51.506s + 2.252s 28. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen 51.912s + 2.658s Race three qualifying: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.100s 2. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 49.120s + 0.020s 3. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW 49.238s + 0.138s 4. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 49.262s + 0.162s 5. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 49.328s + 0.228s 6. Emil Bernstorff Ma-con Dallara-VW 49.493s + 0.393s 7. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.494s + 0.394s 8. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.501s + 0.401s 9. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc 49.506s + 0.406s 10. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.522s + 0.422s 11. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 49.559s + 0.459s 12. Tom Blomqvist Ma-con Dallara-VW 49.571s + 0.471s 13. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 49.613s + 0.513s 14. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.664s + 0.564s 15. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 49.687s + 0.587s 16. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Merc 49.694s + 0.594s 17. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 49.715s + 0.615s 18. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.778s + 0.678s 19. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 49.817s + 0.717s 20. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 49.834s + 0.734s 21. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 49.864s + 0.764s 22. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 49.869s + 0.769s 23. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Merc 49.901s + 0.801s 24. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 50.071s + 0.971s 25. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 50.074s + 0.974s 26. Philip Ellis GU Dallara-Merc 50.346s + 1.246s 27. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 51.434s + 2.234s 28. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen 51.805s + 2.705s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments