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Bianchi secures pole at Barcelona

Formula 3 Euro Series championship leader Jules Bianchi took his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying for the opening race of the weekend at Barcelona

The ART Grand Prix driver, who had his substantial championship lead cut from 25 points to 16 after failing to score at Brands Hatch last time out, grabbed the top spot for the first time with two minutes to go, and was never headed from there.

Bianchi even parked his car in the pits before the end of the session as the other main runners stayed out until the chequered flag, but his margin of 0.065 seconds over Andrea Caldarelli remained in tact.

Caldarelli was on course for a shock pole before the championship leader raised his game, as SG Formula enjoyed its best qualifying session of the season by far. Henkie Waldschmidt will line up fourth for the team, with long-time provisional pole-sitter Alexander Sims (Mucke) splitting the SG cars in third.

Bianchi's closest championship rival Christian Vietoris could only manage fifth on the grid for Mucke after spending much of the session in second, and he will be joined on the third row by Mexican rookie Esteban Gutierrez (ART).

Valtteri Bottas, who is hoping to overhaul Vietoris to give ART a one-two in the championship lines up seventh, while Mucke's Marco Wittmann and Sam Bird, and Signature's Tiago Geronimi complete the top 10.

Pos  Driver                Team            Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Jules Bianchi         ART             D/M  1m07.007s
 2.  Andrea Caldarelli     SG              D/M  1m07.072s  + 0.065s
 3.  Alexander Sims        Mucke           D/M  1m07.097s  + 0.090s
 4.  Henkie Waldschmidt    SG              D/M  1m07.117s  + 0.110s
 5.  Christian Vietoris    Mucke           D/M  1m07.149s  + 0.142s
 6.  Esteban Gutierrez     ART             D/M  1m07.216s  + 0.209s
 7.  Valtteri Bottas       ART             D/M  1m07.237s  + 0.230s
 8.  Marco Wittmann        Mucke           D/M  1m07.283s  + 0.276s
 9.  Sam Bird              Mucke           D/M  1m07.286s  + 0.279s
10.  Tiago Geronimi        Signature       D/V  1m07.292s  + 0.285s
11.  Mika Maki             Signature       D/V  1m07.293s  + 0.286s
12.  Jean Karl Vernay      Signature       D/V  1m07.339s  + 0.332s
13.  Stefano Coletti       Prema           D/M  1m07.372s  + 0.365s
14.  Adrien Tambay         ART             D/M  1m07.489s  + 0.482s
15.  Renger van der Zande  Motopark        D/M  1m07.532s  + 0.525s
16.  Nick Tandy            Kolles & Heinz  D/V  1m07.601s  + 0.594s
17.  Jake Rosenzweig       Carlin          D/V  1m07.757s  + 0.750s
18.  Basil Shaaban         Prema           D/M  1m07.762s  + 0.755s
19.  Roberto Merhi         Manor           D/M  1m07.851s  + 0.844s
20.  Cesar Ramos           Manor           D/M  1m07.867s  + 0.860s
21.  Tim Sandtler          Prema           D/M  1m07.886s  + 0.879s
22.  Carlo Van Dam         SG              D/V  1m07.942s  + 0.935s
23.  Christopher Zanella   Motopark        D/M  1m07.970s  + 0.963s
24.  Pedro Enrique         Manor           D/M  1m08.039s  + 1.032s
25.  Johan Jokinen         Kolles & Heinz  D/V  1m09.485s  + 2.478s

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