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European F3 Hockenheim: Vips takes pole, Schumacher closes on title

Juri Vips took a stunning pole in the second qualifying session of the Formula 3 European Championship finale at Hockenheim, as Mick Schumacher took a giant step towards the title

Motopark-run F3 rookie Vips was running in a train behind Prema Powerteam pair Ralf Aron and Schumacher, and the Estonian's team-mate Dan Ticktum.

When Schumacher set a 1m32.402s just into the last five minutes, and followed that up with a 1m32.500s, it looked all over bar the shouting for a session that decides the grid for races two and three.

Schumacher then had a cool lap, dropping a few positions on track, before mounting his final bid.

But Vips's Dallara-Volkswagen set fastest times in the first two sectors on the very last lap of the session, and completed the lap with a green final sector to slash the standard to 1m32.284s.

"It was quite crazy," said Vips.

"It was the only lap I got without a slipstream actually - I got delayed behind Dan in my first push lap, otherwise I think my second-best lap could have been better.

"But I then got a half-decent second-best lap in.

"It's cooled down a little bit, so it wasn't so peaky on tyres, but still when I did my quick lap the tyres had dropped a bit - but it was good enough for pole."

Vips's 'half-decent' second-best lap was good for third on the grid for race three, while Schumacher will start second for the second and third races.

Both of them were trumped on second-best times and pole for the finale by Prema's lead Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman, who was third fastest overall.

Carlin's Jehan Daruvala continued his strong Friday. He was fourth fastest overall, just 0.006 seconds slower than front-row man Schumacher, while his second-best time puts him sixth on the grid for the finale.

Alex Palou also kept up his strong form, the Hitech GP man taking fifth on the grid for race two and fourth for race three.

The surprise of this session was Julian Hanses on only his second outing since joining Carlin after splitting from Ma-con earlier in the season. The German was sixth, but plummets to 16th for the finale.

The top 10 was completed by Sacha Fenestraz (Carlin), Ralf Aron (Prema), Fabio Scherer (Motopark) and Enaam Ahmed (Hitech).

On second-best times, Aron moves up to fifth, Fenestraz stays seventh, Ahmed goes up to ninth and Scherer drops out of the top 10.

First-race poleman Guan Yu Zhou was a lowly 12th in his Prema car, but is eighth for race three, but the big disaster befell Schumacher's closest title rival Ticktum.

The Red Bull junior is only 15th on the grid for race two - one place behind the other title contender Marcus Armstrong - but moves up to 10th for the finale.

Race two qualifying

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Juri Vips Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.284s -
2 Mick Schumacher PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.402s 0.118s
3 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.406s 0.122s
4 Jehan Daruvala Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.408s 0.124s
5 Alex Palou Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.489s 0.205s
6 Julian Hanses Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.630s 0.346s
7 Sacha Fenestraz Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.636s 0.352s
8 Ralf Aron PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.650s 0.366s
9 Fabio Scherer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.665s 0.381s
10 Enaam Ahmed Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.666s 0.382s
11 Marino Sato Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.683s 0.399s
12 Guanyu Zhou PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.715s 0.431s
13 Jonathan Aberdein Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.725s 0.441s
14 Marcus Armstrong PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.726s 0.442s
15 Dan Ticktum Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.748s 0.464s
16 Ferdinand Habsburg Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.783s 0.499s
17 Sophia Florsch Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.910s 0.626s
18 Ben Hingeley Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.966s 0.682s
19 Sebastian Fernandez Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.140s 0.856s
20 Artem Petrov Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.174s 0.890s
21 Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.196s 0.912s
22 Nikita Troitskiy Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.256s 0.972s
23 Keyvan Andres Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.357s 1.073s
24 Ameya Vaidyanathan Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.366s 1.082s

Race three qualifying

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.443s -
2 Mick Schumacher PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.500s 0.057s
3 Juri Vips Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.554s 0.111s
4 Alex Palou Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.558s 0.115s
5 Ralf Aron PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.663s 0.220s
6 Jehan Daruvala Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.684s 0.241s
7 Sacha Fenestraz Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.685s 0.242s
8 Guanyu Zhou PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.735s 0.292s
9 Enaam Ahmed Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.738s 0.295s
10 Dan Ticktum Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.773s 0.330s
11 Ferdinand Habsburg Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.844s 0.401s
12 Jonathan Aberdein Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.848s 0.405s
13 Marino Sato Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.870s 0.427s
14 Marcus Armstrong PREMA Theodore Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m32.889s 0.446s
15 Fabio Scherer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.890s 0.447s
16 Julian Hanses Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m32.947s 0.504s
17 Sophia Florsch Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.089s 0.646s
18 Ben Hingeley Hitech Bullfrog GP Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.239s 0.796s
19 Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.257s 0.814s
20 Sebastian Fernandez Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.279s 0.836s
21 Artem Petrov Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.423s 0.980s
22 Nikita Troitskiy Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.460s 1.017s
23 Keyvan Andres Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m33.541s 1.098s
24 Ameya Vaidyanathan Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m33.710s 1.267s

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