A1-Ring Qualifying: Perfect for Briscoe
Ryan Briscoe looks well set to get his championship back on course in Austria this weekend. The Australian pilot has secured pole for both F3 Euroseries races at the A1-Ring, and even better news for him is that title challenger Christian Klien has only managed a pair of third-row positions.
None of the drivers close to the PREMA's Briscoe could be called championship rivals. Briscoe will be joined on the front row by ASM's Alexandre Prémat in both races, whilst Canada's Bruno Spengler and Finland's Nico Rosberg are third for races one and two respectively.
Although Briscoe took the first grid place by a margin of two tenths in the session for the first race, it was a close run thing in the slower and tighter second session. Prémat missed out by just three hundredths that time around.
"It is fantastic," said Briscoe. "I haven't been on the front row for a long time and now I am confident for the race."
Local driver Klien would have been hoping for a far better performance on his home circuit: "The car wasn't running great in qualifying. I had hoped for a better result," he said.
Third-placed championship contender Olivier Pla will also not be a happy Frenchman after qualifying. He's fifth for the second race but a disastrous twelfth for the first. Fabio Carbone, with tenth and thirteenth, is also unlikely to improve much on his fourth place in the series this weekend.
With many drivers between Briscoe and his main rivals on the grid, a couple of clean runs in the Austrian races should see the Aussie stretch that championship lead again. The first race takes place at 1320 BST today (Saturday), and the second at 1040 BST tomorrow (Sunday)
Ryan Briscoe (PREMA) 1m27.066s
Alexandre Prémat (ASM) 1m27.237s
Bruno Spengler (ASM) 1m27.405s
Markus Winklehock (ADAC) 1m27.425s
Andreas Zuber (Rosberg) 1m27.459s
Christian Klien (ADAC) 1m27.557s
Ryan Briscoe (PREMA) 1m27.358s
Alexandre Prémat (ASM) 1m27.382s
Nico Rosberg (Rosberg) 1m27.406s
Robert Kubica (PREMA) 1m27.632s
Olivier Pla (ASM) 1m27.692s
Christian Klien (ADAC) 1m27.693
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