Button takes second Pembrey pole

This morning, the Somerset teenager had been denied pole position by a last ditch effort from Dane Kristian Kolby.

This time, it was Button who snatched away the top spot from Kolby to take his first dry-weather F3 pole position in his Promatecme UK Dallara-Renault.

Button took pole in the wet on his F3 debut at Donington Park in March, but this marked his coming of age as one of the category's top men.

'It was a hard run,' he said. 'There were a few problems in traffic but I was lucky enough to get a couple of good laps in, even though my tyres were past their best and I'd already done 10 laps on them.

'Pole is spectacular, but it's what you do in the race that counts - a win's more important.

'The team have done an excellent job, especially considering we haven't done as much testing here as the others.'

Kolby was happy with another front-row spot in his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda. 'You can't ask for much better,' he summed up of his day.

'Only another pole would have done that. I'm quite happy, although I didn't think it was a particularly good lap - it was more of an installation run.'

Kolby's team-mate Matt Davies was staring his first F3 pole in the face halfway through the session, but then had a spectacular spin across the grass exiting the Esses.

He continued, but slumped to third.

At least he did better than the title contenders - this time Marc Hynes got the better of Luciano Burti, in fourth and eighth respectively.

'I'm confused. I just don't know,' said a mystified Hynes about his lack of pace.

Burti shrugged, 'I've never felt an F3 car handle so bad. And, with overtaking almost impossible here, my only chance of making progress is if it rains.'

Michael Bentwood put in his best ever performance to qualify fifth, with Aluizio Coelho sixth.