Bianchi takes home pole at Dijon
Jules Bianchi moved another step closer to wrapping up the Formula 3 Euro Series title at his home race by taking a dominant pole position at Dijon
The ART driver was 0.4s clear of his rivals, who were headed by fellow Frenchman Jean Karl Vernay. The Signature driver narrowly prevented an ART lock-out of the front row by out-pacing Valtteri Bottas by just 0.02s.
Mika Maki made the second row a mirror image of the first by setting the fourth best time in his Signature Dallara-VW.
Bianchi's only title challenger Christian Vietoris faces an uphill struggle tomorrow from seventh on the grid, lining up behind SG's Andrea Caldarelli and his Mucke team-mate Marco Wittman.
It was a tough session for the Britons, with Mucke's Sam Bird 10th, almost a second down on Bianchi, while his team-mate Alexander Sims will line up way back in 15th.
Series returnee Robert Wickens will start from 18th for Kolles and Heinz Union, while Esteban Gutierrez, who was second fastest to Bianchi in testing, crashed early on in the session, bringing out the red flag. ART's Mexican driver plummeted down the timesheets to 21st.
Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jules Bianchi ART D/M 1m10.111s 2. Jean Karl Vernay Signature D/V 1m10.502s + 0.391 3. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M 1m10.523s + 0.412 4. Mika Maki Signature D/V 1m10.773s + 0.662 5. Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M 1m10.809s + 0.698 6. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M 1m10.903s + 0.792 7. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M 1m10.905s + 0.794 8. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M 1m10.910s + 0.799 9. Adrien Tambay ART D/M 1m10.920s + 0.809 10. Sam Bird Mucke D/M 1m11.021s + 0.910 11. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M 1m11.023s + 0.912 12. Tom Dillmann Prema D/M 1m11.074s + 0.963 13. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V 1m11.077s + 0.966 14. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M 1m11.080s + 0.969 15. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M 1m11.114s + 1.003 16. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V 1m11.319s + 1.208 17. Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 1m11.441s + 1.330 18. Renger van der Zande Motopark D/M 1m11.496s + 1.385 19. Robert Wickens Kolles & Heinz D/V 1m11.537s + 1.426 20. Stefano Coletti Prema D/M 1m11.616s + 1.505 21. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M 1m11.718s + 1.607 22. Pedro Enrique Manor D/M 1m11.741s + 1.630 23. Johan Jokinen Kolles & Heinz D/V 1m12.085s + 1.974
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