Maximilian Gunther takes two European F3 poles at Paul Ricard

The German, a race winner in his rookie F3 season in 2015, whisked his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes around a now-dry Provence circuit a mere 0.017 seconds quicker than Briton George Russell's Hitech Grand Prix machine.

Gunther's second-best time was also fractionally quicker than Russell's fastest, while the 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner completed another lap good for a front-row spot, his second-best effort falling short of Gunther's by 0.109s.

"The dry conditions made it much easier to calculate than first qualifying," said Gunther, who was baulked on the final lap of the opening, drying session.

"I'm very happy - my first two poles in European F3."

Gunther's fellow Prema man Nick Cassidy took third spot for races two and three, the New Zealander the only driver to take a hat-trick of top-three slots.

The poleman's former Mucke Motorsport team-mate Mikkel Jensen lines up fourth for race two, followed by the fastest two rookies, with Prema-run Estonian Ralf Aron, the reigning Italian Formula 4 champion, edging out Motopark driver Joel Eriksson by just 0.003s.

Next up was Brit Callum Ilott, although the Van Amersfoort Racing man improved to fourth on the grid for race three with his second-best lap.

Ben Barnicoat continued his strong debut F3 weekend with eighth in the second Hitech machine, while first-race poleman Lance Stroll surprisingly languishes down in ninth.

On second-best times, Jensen is fifth from Aron, who again heads the rookies, Barnicoat, Stroll and Eriksson.

The top 10 is completed for each of the two races by Anthoine Hubert.

RACE TWO QUALIFYING

RACE THREE QUALIFYING