F3 Nurburgring: Stroll and Gunther split second qualifying poles

The four-car Prema and Motopark teams each broke with F3 tradition in running right from the start of qualifying, before fitting new tyres and rejoining the track, while most of the rest of the field joined the session several minutes in and used just one set of Hankooks.

Championship leader Stroll held the advantage almost throughout, finishing the session with a time of 1m21.006s that was 0.105 seconds clear of Gunther.

However the German turned the tables by 0.058s on second-fastest times, which decide the grid for race three.

Hitech GP seems a little further off the pace than it was last time out at Spa and, although George Russell pulled out one quick lap to go third on the grid for race two, his second best was good enough only for seventh.

Star rookie Joel Eriksson this time headed the Motopark squadron, finishing up fourth for race two and third for race three.

Prema's Nick Cassidy and Motopark-run Red Bull junior Niko Kari share the third row for race two, but move up to fourth and fifth respectively on second-fastest times.

A brace of fourth-row slots went to Ralf Aron, the Prema rookie seventh for race two and eighth for race three.

Van Amersfoort Racing reported traffic troubles for its drivers, of whom Callum Ilott was the best in eighth overall, although his second-best time promotes him to sixth.

VAR's Anthoine Hubert and Motopark's Ferrari junior Guan Yu Zhou complete the top 10 for race two, with those two positions going to Brits Harrison Newey (VAR) and Ben Barnicoat (Hitech) for the weekend's finale.

It was a tough session for opening-qualifying topper Sergio Sette Camara, who laboured to 14th on the grid for both races.

The 17-car field was even closer this time, with just 0.757s separating first from last.

RACE TWO GRID:

RACE THREE GRID: