James Calado leads all-ART GP3 front row in wet/dry Spa session

The session started with conditions clearly requiring wet weather tyres, but the track dried slowly throughout the 30 minutes.

By the end, the track had just reached the crossover point for slick tyres, and those that gambled on an early switch had their tyres up to temperature to capitalise.

Calado's final lap initially put him on pole by 1.8 seconds from RSC Mucke's Nigel Melker, who was in a favourable position given that he was the last driver across the line before the chequered flag came out.

Championship leader Valtteri Bottas, who joined Calado in making the early switch, followed Melker across the line. His lap missed pole by 0.088s, while Melker had to settle for third place.

"We gambled on making the switch just 12 minutes into the session," said Calado. "At the time I came in we were P28, but it paid off in the end because I had a bit more tyre temperature than the others by the end."

Some drivers did not bother with switching to slicks, and had the session ended a couple of minutes earlier that decision could have paid off. Lewis Williamson (MW Arden) took pole on wets with two minutes to go, but by the end he had dropped to 10th.

Antonio Felix da Costa was the only driver to make a significant improvement on his final lap despite still being on wets, earning himself fourth on the grid for Status. Manor's Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, who dominated the first half of the session, took fifth on slicks.

Da Costa's team-mate, title hopeful Alexander Sims, was unable to put a lap together despite joining the ART frontrunners in making the early switch to slicks. He had been on pole before coming in to change tyres, but eventually slumped to 17th.

Pos  Driver                  Team       Time       Gap
 1.  James Calado            ART        2m20.146s
 2.  Valtteri Bottas         ART        2m20.234s  + 0.088s
 3.  Nigel Melker            RSC Mucke  2m21.315s  + 1.169s
 4.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Status     2m22.359s  + 2.213s
 5.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs     Manor      2m22.689s  + 2.543s
 6.  Nick Yelloly            Atech CRS  2m22.818s  + 2.672s
 7.  Conor Daly              Carlin     2m22.988s  + 2.842s
 8.  Tom Dillmann            Addax      2m23.088s  + 2.942s
 9.  Nico Muller             Jenzer     2m23.256s  + 3.110s
10.  Lewis Williamson        MW Arden   2m23.272s  + 3.126s
11.  Mitch Evans             MW Arden   2m23.439s  + 3.293s
12.  Michael Christensen     RSC Mucke  2m23.693s  + 3.547s
13.  Ivan Lukashevich        Status     2m23.772s  + 3.626s
14.  Aaro Vainio             Tech 1     2m24.106s  + 3.960s
15.  Alex Fontana            Jenzer     2m24.300s  + 4.154s
16.  Marlon Stockinger       Atech CRS  2m24.651s  + 4.505s
17.  Alexander Sims          Status     2m24.774s  + 4.628s
18.  Richie Stanaway         ART        2m24.911s  + 4.765s
19.  Leonardo Cordeiro       Carlin     2m25.172s  + 5.026s
20.  Rio Haryanto            Manor      2m25.496s  + 5.350s
21.  Maxim Zimin             Jenzer     2m25.560s  + 5.414s
22.  Daniel Mancinelli       RSC Mucke  2m25.857s  + 5.711s
23.  Simon Trummer           MW Arden   2m26.284s  + 6.138s
24.  Zoel Amberg             Atech CRS  2m26.917s  + 6.771s
25.  Dean Smith              Addax      2m26.952s  + 6.850s
26.  Mattias Laine           Manor      2m27.996s  + 7.850s
27.  Thomas Hylkema          Tech 1     2m28.115s  + 7.969s
28.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Tech 1     2m28.738s  + 8.592s
29.  Gabby Chaves            Addax      2m29.743s  + 9.597s
30.  Callum Macleod          Carlin     2m29.751s  + 9.605s