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GP3 Barcelona: Luca Ghiotto takes pole for season opener

Luca Ghiotto carried his free-practice form into qualifying to claim the first GP3 pole position of the season

The Italian Trident driver, who also claimed pole at Spa last year on his category debut, was on top of the timesheets ahead of reigning European Formula 3 champion Esteban Ocon heading into the final runs.

Ghiotto looked set to improve his time after setting the fastest time of all in the first two sectors, but he lost half-a-second in the final sector and did not improve on his earlier mark of 1m35.469s.

But that was still enough to make sure of pole position, 0.139s ahead of ART Grand Prix driver Ocon, who also did not improve on his final run.

Both Ocon and Ghiotto's final laps were interrupted by a yellow flag caused by Antonio Fuoco, who spun into the gravel at Turn 4.

A number of drivers were able to improve on their final runs, however, with Emil Bernstorff improving to take third on the grid ahead of Alex Palou.

Matheo Tuscher and Marvin Kirchhofer also improved to take the third row, although Alfonso Celis Jr was seventh after not improving on his last un.

Oscar Tunjo, second fastest in yesterday's free practice session, was eighth ahead of Pal Varhaug, with Jimmy Eriksson rounding out the top 10.

STARTING GRID:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1 Luca Ghiotto Trident 1m35.469s -
2 Esteban Ocon ART Grand Prix 1m35.608s 0.139s
3 Emil Bernstorff Arden International 1m35.800s 0.331s
4 Alex Palou Campos Racing 1m35.846s 0.377s
5 Matheo Tuscher Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.909s 0.440s
6 Marvin Kirchhofer ART Grand Prix 1m35.934s 0.465s
7 Alfonso Celis ART Grand Prix 1m35.943s 0.474s
8 Oscar Tunjo Trident 1m36.047s 0.578s
9 Pal Varhaug Jenzer Motorsport 1m36.082s 0.613s
10 Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen GP 1m36.134s 0.665s
11 Mitch Gilbert Carlin 1m36.143s 0.674s
12 Ralph Boschung Jenzer Motorsport 1m36.160s 0.691s
13 Adderly Fong Koiranen GP 1m36.213s 0.744s
14 Alex Fontana Status Grand Prix 1m36.284s 0.815s
15 Jann Mardenborough Carlin 1m36.305s 0.836s
16 Matt Parry Koiranen GP 1m36.403s 0.934s
17 Artur Janosz Trident 1m36.478s 1.009s
18 Sandy Stuvik Status Grand Prix 1m36.534s 1.065s
19 Kevin Ceccon Arden International 1m36.593s 1.124s
20 Seb Morris Status Grand Prix 1m36.634s 1.165s
21 Antonio Fuoco Carlin 1m36.785s 1.316s
22 Zaid Ashkanani Campos Racing 1m37.288s 1.819s
23 Samin Gomez Campos Racing 1m38.409s 2.940s
24 Alex Bosak Arden International 1m37.549s 2.080s

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