Cochet takes pole in Zandvoort

The French F3 series leader's Signature Dallara-Renault will start alongside fellow Frenchman Yannick Schroeder, who provided the traditional Zandvoort upset by taking a front row spot in his Promatecme Junior Team Dallara-Renault.

Cochet and Schroeder topped their respective halves of the 39-car entry. While Cochet's performance was no surprise, that of Schroeder - who is an engineering student - shocked even the French contingent.

"I'm not surprised, just happy," he joked. "It's down to hard work." Cochet added: "My tyres are good for the race and me and the team are very happy to be on pole position."

In Schroeder's group, the timing of putting on the final set of fresh tyres was crucial. Those who did so close to the end of the first session made the best decision, while those who left their new tyres until the afternoon session paid the penalty as warmer conditions made the track slower. Cochet's group had a more even opening session, but it was again crucial to use the new tyres in the morning.

British championship aces Takuma Sato and Narain Karthikeyan start from the second row. The Japanese set an extremely impressive pace in the slower afternoon session. The Indian, along with Stewart Racing team mate Tomas Scheckter (who is on the fifth row), suffered from not using his new tyres until the afternoon, and then promptly spun off on them at Scheivlak.

Impressive Italian Gianmaria Bruni is the highest placed Zandvoort rookie in fifth. Alongside him is Benoit Treluyer, who contributed to team mate Cochet's pole. His experiences in the opening session enabled the Signature team to fine tune the sister machine so that it could take pole in the following period.

Among the others to impress were Japan's Toshihiro Kaneishi, who starts from the fourth row, and sixth-row starter Andrew Kirkaldy, who set the fastest time in his group's final session.

For British series leader Antonio Pizzonia it was a disaster. An oil leak in the opening free practice session on Friday cost him some track-learning experience. Since then an enormous understeer problem has been only partially resolved, leaving him on the 11th row.

Full Times

Pos Driver (Nationality) Championship Team Car Time

Group B
Jonathan Cochet (F) F Signature Dallara-Renault 1m33.192s
Takuma Sato (J) B Carlin Dallara-Mugen 1m33.214s
Gianmaria Bruni (I) B Fortec Dallara-Mugen 1m33.431s
Toshihiro Kaneishi (J) G GM Dallara-Opel 1m33.498s
Tomas Scheckter (ZA) B Stewart Dallara-Mugen 1m33.927s
Tom van Bavel (B) G Van Amersfoort Dallara-Opel 1m33.998s
Nicolas Kiesa (DK) B RC Dallara-Opel 1m34.140s
Tiago Monteiro (P) F ASM Dallara-Renault1m34.157s
Matteo Grassotto (I) W Target Dallara-Opel 1m34.210s
Peter Sundberg (S) G Kolles Dallara-Mugen 1m34.224s
Martin O'Connell (GB)B Rowan Dallara-Mugen 1m34.633s
Philip Cloostermans (B) G Prema Dallara-Opel 1m34.641s
Toby Scheckter (ZA) W Manor Dallara-Mugen 1m34.922s
Tristan Gommendy (F) F ASM Dallara-Renault 1m35.147s
Omar Galeffi (I) W Docking Dallara-Mugen 1m35.257s
Nicolas Stelandre (B) G JB Dallara-Opel 1m35.449s
Romain Dumas (F) F La Filiere Martini-Opel 1m35.548s
Giorgio Mecattaf (CH) G Swiss Racing Dallara-Opel 1m35.760s
Adam Jones (GB) F La Filiere Martini-Opel 1m36.067s

Group A
Yannick Schroeder (F) F Promatecme Dallara-Renault 1m33.565s
Narain Karthikeyan (IND) B Stewart Dallara-Mugen 1m33.771s
Benoit Treluyer (F) J Signature Dallara-Renault 1m33.953s
Ben Collins (GB) B Carlin Dallara-Mugen 1m34.248s
Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL) G Van Amersfoort Dallara-Opel 1m34.281s
Andrew Kirkaldy (GB) B Avanti Dallara-Opel 1m34.282s
Ryo Fukuda (J) F LD Dallara-Renault 1m34.308s
Julien Beltoise (F) F ASM Dallara-Renault 1m34.328s
Zsolt Baumgartner (H) G GM Dallara-Opel 1m34.399s
Milos Pavlovic (YU) B RC Dallara-Opel 1m34.437s
Antonio Pizzonia (BR) B Manor Dallara-Mugen 1m34.441s
Armin Pornbacher (I) G Swiss Racing Dallara-Opel 1m34.571s
Tony Schmidt (D) G GM Dallara-Opel 1m34.583s
James Andanson (F) F La Filiere Martini-Opel 1m34.731s
Marco du Pau (NL) W Docking Dallara-Mugen 1m34.863s
Michael Bentwood (GB) B Fortec Dallara-Mugen 1m35.175s
Elran Nijenhuis (NL) G Kolles Dallara-Mugen 1m35.408s
Val Hillebrand (B) G JB Dallara-Opel 1m35.464s
Warren Carway (IRL) B Rowan Dallara-Mugen 1m35.614s
Luca Iannaccone (I) W Uboldi Dallara-Fiat 1m41.557s

For Championship, B = British, F = French, G = German, J = Japanese and W =
Wildcard