Jelley takes pole for Spa race one
Double R Racing driver Stephen Jelley scored his second pole position of the British Formula Three season at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium this evening
The Briton put himself first in the queue for big points on a day when runaway championship leader Marko Asmer had a rare disaster. It was essential for Asmer's distant chasers to grab this chance and Jelley - currently fourth in the points - did just that.
So did the other championship front-runners. Maro Engel (Carlin Motorsport), who is second in the points table and took a double pole at this track last year, will start alongside Jelley in second.
And neatly enough, the third-placed man in the championship Sam Bird (Carlin) will start the race third.
Asmer's misfortunes were the main talking point of the day. He crashed heavily in morning practice, and the Hitech Racing team initially planned to use his spare car for qualifying.
But a rules ambiguity led to the team's late decision to play it safe and do its best repairing the damaged race car. This in turn meant that Asmer only made it out in time for a single lap at the end of the session - in a car that was far from right.
He won't start last - there will be one car behind him - but 29th place on the grid will be unfamiliar territory.
Sergio Perez was the man to beat in the National Class. The T-Sport driver put two championship class cars between himself and title rival Franky Cheng (Performance Racing).
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Stephen Jelley Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.076 2. Maro Engel Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.353 + 0.277 3. Sam Bird Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.370 + 0.294 4. Atte Mustonen Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.459 + 0.383 5. Jonathan Kennard Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.736 + 0.660 6. Mario Moraes Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.947 + 0.871 7. S.Hohenthal Dallara-Mercedes 2:14.947 + 0.871 8. Rodolfo Gonzalez Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:15.045 + 0.969 9. Niall Breen Dallara-Mercedes 2:15.275 + 1.199 10. E.Guerrieri Mygale-Mercedes 2:15.401 + 1.325 11. Greg Mansell Dallara-Mercedes 2:15.497 + 1.421 12. W.Grubmuller Dallara-Mercedes 2:15.527 + 1.451 13. Alberto Valerio Dallara-Mercedes 2:15.604 + 1.528 14. Sergio Perez Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:15.879 + 1.803 15. Ricardo Teixeira Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:16.165 + 2.089 16. Max Chilton Dallara-Mercedes 2:16.207 + 2.131 17. Cheng Cong Fu Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:16.209 + 2.133 18. Michael Devaney Mygale-Mercedes 2:16.312 + 2.236 19. Alastair Jackson Dallara-Mercedes 2:16.592 + 2.516 20. John Martin Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:16.699 + 2.623 21. Michael Meadows Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:17.199 + 3.123 22. S.Al Khalifa Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:17.273 + 3.197 23. Leo Mansell Dallara-Mercedes 2:17.478 + 3.402 24. Hamad Al Fardan Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:17.507 + 3.431 25. Sean Petterson Lola-Mugen-Honda 2:17.562 + 3.486 26. F.Castellacci Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:17.891 + 3.815 27. Viktor Jensen Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:17.999 + 3.923 28. Alex Waters Dallara-Mugen-Honda 2:18.138 + 4.062 29. Marko Asmer Dallara-Mercedes 2:18.575 + 4.499 30. Juan P.Garcia Lola-Dome-Mugen-Honda 2:18.999 + 4.923
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