Aaro Vainio beats Kevin Ceccon to pole for GP3's Monaco debut
Aaro Vainio claimed his first ever GP3 Series pole position in an early Friday morning qualifying for the series' maiden Monaco race
Like GP2, GP3 split its field into two groups for Monte Carlo qualifying, with the group with the faster pacesetter taking the pole position side of the grid.
Lotus driver Vainio led the way in the second segment and went quickly enough to take pole from group one leader Kevin Ceccon (Ocean), as the Auto GP champion put the tough start to his GP3 career at Barcelona behind him and earned a front row start.
Atech CRS' Tamas Pal Kiss also showed his best GP3 qualifying form so far as he closed right in on Vainio at the end of the second session to secure third on the grid, alongside championship leader Mitch Evans (MW Arden), who was Ceccon's closest rival in the first group.
Evans' team-mate David Fumanelli will share row three with Status driver Marlon Stockinger. Lotus duo Daniel Abt and Conor Daly were fourth in their respective sessions so complete the overall top eight.
Pos Driver Team Time Session 1. Aaro Vainio Lotus 1m28.008s Group 2 2. Kevin Ceccon Ocean 1m28.922s Group 1 3. Tamas Pal Kiss Atech CRS 1m28.123s Group 2 4. Mitch Evans MW Arden 1m29.108s Group 1 5. David Fumanelli MW Arden 1m28.218s Group 2 6. Marlon Stockinger Status 1m29.152s Group 1 7. Daniel Abt Lotus 1m28.653s Group 2 8. Conor Daly Lotus 1m29.246s Group 1 9. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin 1m28.667s Group 2 10. Will Buller Carlin 1m29.757s Group 1 11. Tio Ellinas Manor 1m29.029s Group 2 12. Alice Powell Status 1m30.400s Group 1 13. Kotaro Sakurai Status 1m29.248s Group 2 14. Alex Brundle Carlin 1m30.436s Group 1 15. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m29.952s Group 2 16. Fabiano Machado Manor 1m30.637s Group 1 17. Dmitry Suranovich Manor 1m30.610s Group 2 18. Robert Visoiu Jenzer 1m30.782s Group 1 19. Vicky Piria Trident 1m31.023s Group 2 20. John Wartique Atech CRS 1m31.427s Group 1 21. Ethan Ringel Atech CRS 1m31.144s Group 2 22. Antonio Spavone Trident 1m31.474s. Group 1 23. Robert Cregan Ocean 1m33.163s Group 2 24. Jakub Klasterka Jenzer 1m32.061s Group 1 25. Carmen Jorda Ocean 1m34.793s Group 2 26. Matias Laine MW Arden 1m49.760s Group 1
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