Roberto Merhi and Nigel Melker take F3 Euro Series poles at Valencia
Roberto Merhi and Nigel Melker snared the pole positions for this weekend's penultimate round of the F3 Euro Series at Valencia
Local driver Merhi, who is likely to clinch the title this weekend, led the way for Prema Powerteam at the halfway point of the session in a time of 1m28.178s, with the similarly Mercedes-powered Mucke Dallaras of Melker and Felix Rosenqvist in close proximity.
It was Melker who looked set for a double pole as he set a searing pace on his second set of slicks, but Merhi came back at him to lap in 1m27.860s and grab the top spot overall - and therefore for Sunday's third race - by 0.087s.
Melker's second fastest lap was better than Merhi's however, meaning the Dutchman will start from pole for Saturday's opening race.
Rosenqvist did enough for a pair of thirds - his time for race one only half a tenth down on Merhi's.
Signature's Marco Wittmann, one of only two men who can beat Merhi to the title, could only take sixth and seventh positions on the grid for the two races.
The other, Daniel Juncadella, missed the first half of the session as the Prema mechanics worked on his car in the pitlane. He hauled himself up from the back of the field to fifth for race one, behind Laurens Vanthoor (Siganture) and fourth for race three, ahead of the Belgian.
The grid for race two will, as usual, be the finishing order of race one, but with the top eight reversed.
Times to follow...
Race 1 grid
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Nigel Melker Dallara/Mercedes 1m27.986s 2. Roberto Merhi Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.124s +0.138s 3. Felix Rosenqvist Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.176s +0.190s 4. Laurens Vanthoor Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.538s +0.552s 5. Daniel Juncadella Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.539s +0.553s 6. Marco Wittmann Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.679s +0.693s 7. Carlos Munoz Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.784s +0.798s 8. Daniel Abt Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.864s +0.878s 9. Kimiya Sato Dallara/Volkswagen 1m29.110s +1.124s 10. Jimmy Eriksson Dallara/Volkswagen 1m29.157s +1.171s 11. Gianmarco Raimondo Dallara/Mercedes 1m29.239s +1.253sRace 3 grid
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Roberto Merhi Dallara/Mercedes 1m27.860s 2. Nigel Melker Dallara/Mercedes 1m27.947s +0.087s 3. Felix Rosenqvist Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.082s +0.222s 4. Daniel Juncadella Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.311s +0.451s 5. Laurens Vanthoor Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.401s +0.541s 6. Carlos Munoz Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.648s +0.788s 7. Marco Wittmann Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.672s +0.812s 8. Daniel Abt Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.696s +0.836s 9. Jimmy Eriksson Dallara/Volkswagen 1m28.869s +1.009s 10. Gianmarco Raimondo Dallara/Mercedes 1m28.995s +1.171s 11. Kimya Sato Dallara/Volkswagen 1m29.079s +1.219s
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