Euro F3 Hockenheim: Gunther denies Ilott triple pole for finale

Ilott set the quickest overall time in the second qualifying session, a comfortable 0.271 seconds clear of Gunther, but on second-best times - which determine the grid for race three - it was Gunther in front by a mere 0.013s.

Championship leader Lando Norris languished down in seventh position, but he is almost certain to be crowned in Saturday's opening race.

Ilott's superb pole time for race two came due to maximising everything during a very narrow period of running where the tyres were at their optimum, the rubber from the preceding DTM free practice session meaning the peak performance of the Hankooks narrowed considerably.

That explained the drop-off to his second-best time, and the sister Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes of Gunther stole a march for race-three pole, which was only 0.005s adrift of his overall best.

"The tyres came on a lot earlier than before, because of the track conditions," explained Ilott.

"It was a good lap, but the tyres were good at that stage - after I'd had a lap behind traffic [passing debutant Felipe Drugovich] the tyres never came back."

Gunther put his dismal opening session, in which he was 12th, down to "nothing huge, it's always about the details.

"It's great to bounce back like this - now I have good confidence in the car."

His Prema team completed a 1-2-3 with Ferrari junior Guan Yu Zhou, the Chinese taking third on the grid for both races.

Hitech GP's Jake Hughes - who lost fifth on the grid in the opening session due to having his best lap taken away for exceeding track limits - put in a last-lap effort to bump Pedro Piquet from the second row.

That also meant that Hughes will start fourth for both races, but the second-best time of Piquet, who has shown a welcome improvement in form this weekend with Van Amersfoort Racing, is good only for ninth for race three.

Joel Eriksson planted his Motopark car in sixth place for race two and fifth for race three, and on each grid he is one place ahead of Norris.

The whole Carlin team struggled, with Norris the only one of its drivers in the top 10.

"We tried something we had a feeling would've been better," he said, "but it was quite a bit colder and this time we followed the DTM instead of the Porsches.

"I think we struggled with overall grip - if it was just me struggling I'd say fair play, but considering we all did we must have got something not quite right."

Hitech trio Tadasuke Makino, Nikita Mazepin and Ralf Aron completed the top 10, and are seventh, eighth and 10th respectively for race three.

Qualifying two result

Qualifying three result