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GP3 champion Lynn says taking title in qualifying felt 'weird'

GP3 Series champion Alex Lynn admitted that securing the 2014 title via a qualifying result was a "weird" feeling

Red Bull protege Lynn had moved to the brink of the championship with his results in Russia last month, meaning rival Dean Stoneman had to take every point available - including the pole bonus - in Abu Dhabi and hope Lynn failed to score at all.

When Marvin Kirchhofer denied Stoneman pole in Friday's qualifying session, Lynn's title was secure.

"It took a while for the title to sink in because winning it after qualifying felt a bit weird, but now it feels really good," he said.

Although Lynn had been fastest in practice, he doubted he could have celebrated the championship by claiming pole himself.

"I don't think pole position was achievable - Marvin Kirchhofer was way too fast," he said.

"Still, from this point on the pressure was off - I was champion."

The Carlin driver took three victories and a further five podiums during 2014, ending the season 44 points clear of Stoneman - the biggest margin since the current scoring system was introduced in 2012.

Lynn said he hoped the manner of his title win had proved he was an intelligent driver.

"It is such a difficult series to win, especially with the way the format works, it's very tough," said the European Formula 3 convert and 2013 Macau Grand Prix winner.

"It takes an intelligent driver to win this and I think and hope that's what I've shown this year.

"I always felt that I was going in as the title favourite and I think a lot of the outsiders also saw me as someone who could be really fast and really hard to beat. It was right from the first moment that I knew that I needed to win.

"My team and I really stuck to our plan of how we would win the title, which was by hitting a good average of points every weekend.

"We did all of our analysis before the start of the season and we knew that the title had been won on a 22-point average in the past four years.

"We knew if we could make that a target for each round, we would be tough to beat. Before Sochi our average was 26, so it's a real challenge to just play the game.

"It's a constant mind game, a constant battle against everyone. It was
so tough."

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