Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello takes shock double pole for Pau Formula 3 races

Marciello, who ended Friday free practice firmly in the tyre wall at the exit of the Parc Beaumont right-hander, bounced back to beat all the race favourites.

"Yesterday I crashed in FP2 and was not so fast," said the Italian F3 graduate. "So today it was a surprise."

Marciello enjoys the benefit of the experienced Daniel Juncadella - a podium finisher in Pau last year - alongside him in the Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes camp.

"It's difficult to learn the track and Dani is fast, so yesterday I studied the data," said Pau novice Marciello. "Here it is difficult to overtake, so I just have to get into the first corner in the lead..."

While Juncadella topped the other qualifying group on second-fastest times, meaning he will start alongside his team-mate this afternoon on an all-Prema front row, it was a one-off blistering effort from fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr that topped the group overall.

Sainz will therefore be on the front row for Sunday's Grand Prix de Pau, alongside Marciello.

"I was quite happy with the performance of my car and my performance," said Sainz, who is also a newcomer to the track. "I'm really happy to be on the front row for my first time here, but my second lap was not so good."

Sainz's Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen team-mate Jazeman Jaafar secured a second-row slot for both races. He was outpaced by Marciello in his group but is pleased to be the leading British series contender on the grid for the first race.

Pascal Wehrlein (Mucke Motorsport) shares the second row with Jaafar for Saturday's race, while Fortec runners Pipo Derani (with a last-lap effort) and Alex Lynn, plus long-time first-session pacesetter Jack Harvey (Carlin) and Mucke's Felix Rosenqvist, all put in times sufficient for the third and fourth rows.

Remarkably, the biggest incident of the session was suffered by poleman Marciello, who kept it out of the barriers when he went off and recovered to go quickest.

Race one:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                 Time       Qual group
 1.  Raffaele Marciello    Prema Dallara-Merc       1m10.618s  A
 2.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc       1m10.854s  B
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW        1m10.901s  A
 4.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc       1m10.981s  B
 5.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m11.131s  A
 6.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m11.260s  B
 7.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc       1m11.215s  A
 8.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m11.305s  B
 9.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m11.390s  A
10.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc       1m11.487s  B
11.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW        1m11.486s  A
12.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-Con Dallara-VW        1m11.915s  B
13.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m11.784s  A
14.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m12.211s  B
15.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc       1m11.807s  A
16.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m12.387s  B
17.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-Con Dallara-VW        1m12.191s  A
18.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m12.464s  B
19.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m12.364s  A
20.  Andrea Roda           Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc   1m12.590s  B
21.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc    1m12.668s  A
22.  Sandro Zeller         Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc   1m13.536s  B
23.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m14.692s  A
24.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m14.574s  B

* National class

Race two:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                Time       Qual group
 1.  Raffaele Marciello    Prema Dallara-Merc      1m10.600s  A
 2.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW       1m10.802s  B
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW       1m10.864s  A
 4.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc      1m10.826s  B
 5.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m10.887s  A
 6.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m10.853s  B
 7.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m11.095s  A
 8.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW       1m10.987s  B
 9.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m11.122s  A
10.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc      1m11.341s  B
11.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW       1m11.164s  A
12.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-Con Dallara-VW       1m11.852s  B
13.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc      1m11.444s  A
14.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m11.920s  B
15.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc     1m11.573s  A
16.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW       1m12.182s  B
17.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-Con Dallara-VW       1m12.053s  A
18.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc   1m12.211s  B
19.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  1m12.156s  A
20.  Andrea Roda           JoZeller Dallara-Merc   1m12.425s  B
21.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc   1m12.412s  A
22.  Sandro Zeller         JoZeller Dallara-Merc   1m13.473s  B
23.  Duvashen Padayachee   DoubleR Dallara-Mugen*  1m14.681s  A
24.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*  1m14.071s  B

* National class