Title outsider Adrian Quaife-Hobbs takes GP3 pole at Monza
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs kept his very slim GP3 title hopes alive with a last-ditch lap for pole position at Monza
The Briton, who missed out on track time after a collision with Lewis Williamson in second practice on Friday, shot to the top of the times as the chequered flag fell. The two bonus points for pole leave Quaife-Hobbs 17 adrift of Valtteri Bottas with 18 still available this weekend.
The Manor driver's pole lap demoted Jenzer's Nico Muller to second, after the Swiss driver had moved up from the midfield places to take pole just a minute earlier.
Rio Haryanto made it two Manor cars in the top three after enjoying a very brief spell at the top, while MW Arden's Mitch Evans also put in a late effort of his own to demote the two drivers leading the title fight to the third row.
Championship leader Bottas took provisional pole on three separate occasions in the early stages of the session, while his ART team-mate and closest title rival James Calado sat eighth at the halfway stage.
Bottas was one of the first drivers to head out on his second set of tyres with 11 minutes remaining, and there was a potential flashpoint when Calado lunged the Finn into the first chicane as they both tried to find their way through a queue of cars a couple of minutes later.
Calado's risk appeared to have paid off as he took pole with that lap, while Bottas aborted his attempt due to being forced wide at the first corner.
The improvements of others left Calado fifth ahead of Bottas, but those positions were reversed at the end when the championship leader made a small gain despite encountering traffic through the Lesmo bends and the Ascari chicane.
Of the other drivers with an outside shot at the title, Alexander Sims (Status) will start 11th with Nigel Melker (RSC Mucke) 13th.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor 1m43.788s 2. Nico Muller Jenzer 1m43.850s + 0.062s 3. Rio Haryanto Manor 1m43.943s + 0.155s 4. Mitch Evans MW Arden 1m44.030s + 0.242s 5. Valtteri Bottas ART 1m44.058s + 0.270s 6. James Calado ART 1m44.093s + 0.305s 7. Simon Trummer MW Arden 1m44.215s + 0.427s 8. Michael Christensen RSC Mucke 1m44.241s + 0.453s 9. Tamas Pal Kiss Tech 1 1m44.256s + 0.468s 10. Tom Dillmann Addax 1m44.263s + 0.475s 11. Alexander Sims Status 1m44.288s + 0.500s 12. Ivan Lukashevich Status 1m44.465s + 0.677s 13. Nigel Melker RSC Mucke 1m44.471s + 0.683s 14. Antonio Felix da Costa Status 1m44.475s + 0.687s 15. Gabby Chaves Addax 1m44.560s + 0.772s 16. Aaro Vainio Tech 1 1m44.584s + 0.796s 17. Conor Daly Carlin 1m44.715s + 0.927s 18. Zoel Amberg Atech CRS 1m44.765s + 0.977s 19. Lewis Williamson MW Arden 1m44.800s + 1.012s 20. Mattias Laine Manor 1m44.858s + 1.070s 21. Vittorio Ghirelli Addax 1m44.867s + 1.079s 22. Maxim Zimin Jenzer 1m44.981s + 1.193s 23. Richie Stanaway ART 1m45.004s + 1.216s 24. Callum Macleod Carlin 1m45.076s + 1.288s 25. Marlon Stockinger Atech CRS 1m45.293s + 1.505s 26. Daniel Mancinelli RSC Mucke 1m45.330s + 1.542s 27. Thomas Hylkema Tech 1 1m45.363s + 1.575s 28. Nick Yelloly Atech CRS 1m45.760s + 1.972s 29. Leonardo Cordeiro Carlin 1m45.841s + 2.053s 30. Christophe Hurni Jenzer 1m46.355s + 2.567s
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