Dirani, Asmer Claim Poles at Donington
Danilo Dirani and Marko Asmer have each taken a pole and a second position in the first two qualifying sessions ahead of tomorrow's opening rounds of the British Formula Three series at Donington
Dirani took the first qualifying session with a time of 1 minute 2.784, just one hundredth of a second ahead of Estonian Marko Asmer. In the second session the pair switched places, with Asmer stopping the clock one tenth ahead with a time of 1 minute 3.094.
The Brazilian is leading the Lola fightback in the championship as one of only two non-Dallara chassis' in the series.
Mike Conway was consistent, placing third behind the front-running pair in both sessions, run under the pleasant, dry conditions that graced the circuit all day. The three drivers should be leading the challenge for the championship throughout the series.
None of the drivers reported any major problems with their cars other than Steven Kane in the second Lola, who had a gearbox problem in the first session and couldn't set a time before claiming sixth on the grid in the second session.
Susie Stoddart, who has enjoyed a heightened media profile going into the season, claimed 11th and 10th on the grid, while National Class honours were split between Josh Fisher in the first session and Barton Mawer in the second.
Most importantly from the team owners' perspectives was there were no off track incidents at all, which means that everyone will be able to race without carry any compromises in their cars tomorrow.
Qualifying - Round 1 Pos Cl. Driver Team Time Laps 1. C Danilo Dirani Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda 1:02.784 14 2. C Marko Asmer Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:02.794 + 0.010 26 3. C Mike Conway Dallara Opel Spiess 1:03.007 + 0.223 24 4. C Daniel Clarke Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.040 + 0.256 22 5. C Bruno Senna Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.052 + 0.268 13 6. C Ryan Lewis Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.239 + 0.455 25 7. C Tim Bridgman Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.262 + 0.478 24 8. C James Walker Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:03.411 + 0.627 22 9. C Christian Bakkerud Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.549 + 0.765 27 10. C Stephen Jelley Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:03.576 + 0.792 26 11. C Susie Stoddart Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.577 + 0.793 19 12. N Josh Fisher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:03.689 + 0.905 24 13. C Steven Kane Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda 1:03.718 + 0.934 16 14. N Barton Mawer Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:03.783 + 0.999 27 15. N Suk Sandher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:03.864 + 1.080 16 16. N Salvador Duran Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:03.899 + 1.115 20 17. N Charlie Hollings Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda 1:03.920 + 1.136 23 18. C Ronayne O'mahony Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:03.943 + 1.159 27 19. N Jonathan Kennard Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.141 + 1.357 25 20. N Juho Annala Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.143 + 1.359 24 21. C Keiko Ihara Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:04.643 + 1.859 26 22. N Nick Jones Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:05.379 + 2.595 26 23. C Charlie Kimball Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:05.718 + 2.934 2 24. N Cheong Lou Meng Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:06.391 + 3.607 22 25. N Ricardo Teixeira Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:08.130 + 5.346 15 Qualifying - Round 2 Pos Cl. Driver Team Time Laps 1. C Marko Asmer Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.094 24 2. C Danilo Dirani Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda 1:03.212 + 0.118 23 3. C Mike Conway Dallara Opel Spiess 1:03.296 + 0.202 21 4. C Daniel Clarke Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.428 + 0.334 22 5. C Charlie Kimball Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.518 + 0.424 25 6. C Steven Kane Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda 1:03.663 + 0.569 15 7. C Christian Bakkerud Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.669 + 0.575 23 8. C James Walker Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:03.738 + 0.644 23 9. C Bruno Senna Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.778 + 0.684 23 10. C Susie Stoddart Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:03.794 + 0.700 21 11. N Barton Mawer Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:03.841 + 0.747 24 12. C Ronayne O'mahony Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:03.973 + 0.879 24 13. C Tim Bridgman Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:04.044 + 0.950 24 14. N Salvador Duran Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.170 + 1.076 23 15. C Ryan Lewis Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:04.172 + 1.078 11 16. N Josh Fisher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.222 + 1.128 22 17. N Suk Sandher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.290 + 1.196 21 18. N Jonathan Kennard Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.361 + 1.267 22 19. N Charlie Hollings Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda 1:04.379 + 1.285 18 20. C Stephen Jelley Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 1:04.399 + 1.305 23 21. C Keiko Ihara Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 1:04.686 + 1.592 23 22. N Juho Annala Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:04.691 + 1.597 19 23. N Nick Jones Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:05.672 + 2.578 21 24. N Ricardo Teixeira Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:06.963 + 3.869 17 25. N Cheong Lou Meng Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:07.508 + 4.414 6 C = Championship N = National
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