Hungaroring European F3: Ocon beats Blomqvist to race one pole
Esteban Ocon narrowly held off Tom Blomqvist to secure pole position for the first Formula 3 European Championship race at Hungaroring
Ocon made his mark reasonably early in the session, going fastest by almost eight tenths with eight minutes of the session remaining, before lowering his best time again to a 1m35.585s on the very next lap, which would ultimately become the pole time.
Blomqvist made his charge a couple of minutes later, first becoming the second driver into the 1m35s bracket with a 1m35.863s, before going agonisingly close to snaring pole by improving to within 0.084s of Ocon's time on the next lap.
With neither driver improving in the last few minutes, Ocon was able to hold on to take his sixth pole position in what is still his rookie year.
Max Verstappen finished the session third fastest - and the only other driver to get under the 1m36s mark, with a 1m35.881s. He will be joined on the second row by Ocon's Prema team-mate Antonio Fuoco.
Lucas Auer recovered strongly from a disastrous practice session, in which he missed more than 40 minutes of running after a clash with Sean Gelael, by qualifying fifth, one spot ahead of his Mucke team-mate Felix Rosenqvist, who was just sixth after going almost two tenths slower than he managed in the practice session.
The fourth row belonged to Carlin with Antonio Giovanazzi and Jordan King qualifying seventh and eighth respectively, while Gustavo Menezes and Felix Serralles rounded out the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m35.585s 10 2. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 1m35.669s +0.084s 10 3. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW 1m35.881s +0.296s 11 4. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m36.063s +0.478s 10 5. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1m36.196s +0.611s 11 6. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1m36.218s +0.633s 11 7. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m36.332s +0.747s 10 8. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 1m36.347s +0.762s 10 9. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW 1m36.380s +0.795s 10 10. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara Mercedes 1m36.586s +1.001s 10 11. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Mercedes 1m36.692s +1.107s 10 12. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 1m36.736s +1.151s 10 13. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1m36.786s +1.201s 11 14. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW 1m36.953s +1.368s 11 15. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m36.969s +1.384s 11 16. Mitch Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m37.111s +1.526s 11 17. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes 1m37.156s +1.571s 12 18. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m37.293s +1.708s 11 19. Felipe Guimares Double R Dallara-Mercedes 1m37.325s +1.740s 11 20. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara Mercedes 1m37.377s +1.792s 11 21. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m37.496s +1.911s 12 22. Michele Beretta EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes 1m37.866s +2.281s 12 23. Sandro Zeller Zeller 1m37.891s +2.306s 12
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