Di Resta Takes Pole for Race 1
Britain's Paul di Resta will start today's first F3 Euroseries race at the Nurburgring from pole position, after a thrilling qualifying session this morning
The reigning McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner grabbed the top spot on the timesheets with a handful of minutes remaining, pipping Manor Motorsport teammate (and race-two polesitter) Lucas di Grassi by just over a tenth of a second.
Runaway series leader Lewis Hamilton is therefore facing his first race weekend of the season without a pole position to his name.
The Briton spun on his final set of tyres after catching a backmarker mid-lap, but he'll still start today's race from third on the grid. Hamilton's ASM teammate Adrian Sutil is fourth, while Hannes Neuhauser produced the shock of the session by bringing his HBR car into fifth.
Unlike yesterday's wet/dry qualifying for the second race, this morning's session was held in dry conditions, although low temperatures meant that many drivers struggled to get the best out of their tyres.
"You really had two or three laps at best to get it right," said di Resta. "Traffic was pretty bad and it cost me time on a few occasions, but ultimately I got a clean enough run to get the right lap in. I think there was more time there, but I'm obviously happy to get the pole."
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Paul di Resta Manor Motorsport 1:22.463 19 2. Lucas di Grassi Manor Motorsport 1:22.575 + 0.112 16 3. Lewis Hamilton ASM F3 1:22.638 + 0.175 17 4. Adrian Sutil ASM F3 1:22.840 + 0.377 19 5. Hannes Neuhauser HBR Motorsport 1:23.158 + 0.695 19 6. Kohei Hirate Team Rosberg 1:23.387 + 0.924 18 7. G. van der Garde Team Rosberg 1:23.391 + 0.928 17 8. Loic Duval Signature-Plus 1:23.519 + 1.056 20 9. James Rossiter Signature-Plus 1:23.554 + 1.091 19 10. Greg Franchi Prema Powerteam 1:23.593 + 1.130 18 11. Guillaume Moreau Signature 1:23.663 + 1.200 19 12. Franck Perera Prema Powerteam 1:23.665 + 1.202 20 13. Alejandro Nunez HBR Motorsport 1:23.673 + 1.210 19 14. Atila Abreu ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:23.844 + 1.381 8 15. Esteban Guerrieri Team Midland Euroseries 1:23.851 + 1.388 19 16. Marco Bonanomi Prema Powerteam 1:23.918 + 1.455 19 17. Fabio Carbone Signature 1:23.975 + 1.512 18 18. Danny Watts HBR Motorsport 1:23.977 + 1.514 18 19. Sebastian Vettel ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:24.033 + 1.570 6 20. Thomas Holzer AM-Holzer Rennsport 1:24.035 + 1.572 20 21. Stephan Jelley Team Midland Euroseries 1:24.165 + 1.702 19 22. Filip Salaquarda Team I.S.R. 1:24.578 + 2.115 19 23. Julia Kuhn 1:26.299 + 3.836 17
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