Alguersuari on pole for British F3 debut
| By Steven English |
Saturday, March 22nd 2008, 12:31 GMT |
 Jaime Alguersuari will start his first race in Formula 3 from pole position after setting the quickest time in the first qualifying session at the British F3 season opener at Oulton Park today.
The Spaniard hit the top of the timesheets 10 minutes into the half hour session and cemented his pole when he later improved his time to a 1:28.441, a tenth of a second quicker than last year's pole time.
"The car was good in testing yesterday and everything went well today," he told autosport.com. "The wind was not as bad and the traffic was good for me so I could get three fast laps in.
"In testing you never know what people are doing so it's really good to come to the first qualifying session of the year and be at the top."
Alguersuari's Carlin Motorsport teammate Oliver Turvey will join him on the front row for race one on Monday, with Hitech Racing's pairing of Walter Grubmuller and Max Chilton repeating their impressive pre-season testing form to make up the second row.
Brendon Hartley qualified fifth, ahead of Sergio Perez, who caused a red flag mid-way through the session with an off at Britten's chicane on the Island loop. Few drivers improved their times when the session resumed and several expected front-runners will start in the midfield.
Nick Tandy won the Mygale battle, starting two places ahead of Ultimate Motorsport's Michael Devaney in ninth, while Andy Meyrick leads the National Class runners in 16th place, just a whisker ahead of Fluid Motorsport's Jay Bridger.
Pos Driver Team Car Time
1. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport D/M 1:28.441
2. Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport D/M 1:28.559
3. Walter Grubmuller Hitech Racing D/M 1:28.565
4. Max Chilton Hitech Racing D/M 1:28.874
5. Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport D/M 1:28.885
6. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H 1:28.941
7. John Martin Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1:29.039
8. Marcus Ericsson Fortec Motorsport D/M 1:29.046
9. Nick Tandy JTR M/M 1:29.189
10. Atte Mustonen Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1:29.233
11. Michael Devaney Ultimate Motorsport M/M 1:29.250
12. Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec Motorsport D/M 1:29.253
13. Alistair Jackson Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1:29.384
14. Sam Abay Carlin Motorsport D/M 1:29.438
15. Henry Arundel Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1:29.538
16. Andy Meyrick Carlin Motorsport (N) D/H 1:29.856
17. Jay Bridger Fluid Motorsport (N) D/H 1:29.912
18. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate Motorsport M/M 1:30.081
19. Philip Major Fortec Motorsport D/M 1:30.251
20. Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate Motorsport M/M 1:30.666
21. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H 1:30.694
22. Kristjan Einar Carlin Motorsport (N) D/H 1:30.967
23. Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H 1:31.239
24. Hywel Lloyd CF Racing (N) D/H 1:31.635
25. Stefan Wilson Fluid Motorsport (N) D/H 1:31.887
26. Craig Reiff Nexa Racing (N) D/H 1:34.936
27. Niall Quinn Team Loctite D/H 1:34.947 (D/M = Dallara-Mercedes, D/H = Dallara Honda, M/M = Mygale-Mercedes)
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