Impressive Hamilton on pole

After running well in last week's Macau event before an accident, the Manor Motorsport man's impressive form continued by becoming the only man to break the 70-second barrier in qualifying.

"I think we have a very good chance of winning," said young McLaren protege Hamilton. "We've been quick in practice and qualifying. I just need to stay calm and collected to come away with the win."

In a good day for British F3 runners, Hamilton's Dallara-Mugen outgunned
unpredictable American Richard Antinnuci's Dallara-Renault. Antinucci is another driver who showed well in Macau before troubles in the second leg.

However, Antinucci lost his best time from the earlier session for his group when his car was found to be underweight. This drops him to third on the grid for tomorrow's two-legged affair.

Nelson Piquet Junior (3rd in the 2003 British championship) produced one of his trademark qualifying laps to top the slower session for even-numbered cars, but this was only enough to give the Brazilian third on the overall grid. Third became second, however, when Antinucci was penalised.

Robert Doornbos is well-placed to make up for a disappointing Macau outing by gridding fourth in the first of the Opel-powered cars. The Dutchman beat Euroseries rival Robert Kubica into fifth.

James Courtney has work to do if he is to justify his status as one of the favourites. He'll be starting in seventh tomorrow, whilst Macau winner Nicolas Lapierre is in far greater trouble. He starts way down in thirteenth.



Lewis Hamilton Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m09.989s
Nelson Piquet Jr Dallara-Renault 1m10.249s
Richard Antinucci Dallara-Renault
Robert Doornbos Dallara-Opel 1m10.370s
Robert Kubica Dallara-Opel 1m10.394s
Tatsuya Kataoka Dallara-Toyota 1m10.432s
James Courtney Dallara-Toyota 1m10.446s
Adam Carroll Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m10.511s