Merhi captures seventh and eighth poles of season at Hockenheim

The 20-year-old Spaniard, who wrapped up the title at his home circuit of Valencia last time out, appeared to be in a class of his own as he took his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes to the top of the timesheets within the first 10 minutes of the session.

The 1m32.361s lap he set before fitting fresh rubber, however, was not an unassailable target, so out Merhi went again, improving his pole mark to 1m31.693s with three minutes to go.

While that time was not beaten, practice pace-setter Felix Rosenqvist came close; the Mucke Motorsport driver steadily rising up the order through the second half of the session and eventually missing the top spot - and therefore pole for Sunday's final race of the year - by 0.090s.

Even more agonisingly for the Swede, who won the Masters of F3 this year but has yet to secure a Euro Series victory, his second fastest time of 1m31.938 was identical to Merhi's. However as he set that time after his rival, it is the Spaniard who also takes pole for Saturday's opening race.

Carlos Sainz Jr, making his series debut, was a superb third on the grid for both races for Signature, ahead of team regulars Daniel Abt, Laurens Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann in the overall times.

Nigel Melker (Mucke) and Daniel Juncadella (Prema) - the latter of whom is battling with Wittman for the championship runner-up spot - were seventh and eighth, with the top 10 for race three therefore completed by Motopark's Jimmy Eriksson and Signature's Carlos Munoz.

Race 1 grid

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                 Time/Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc      1m31.938s
 2.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 0.000s
 3.  Carlos Sainz Jr     Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.225s
 4.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.288s
 5.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.323s
 6.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.406s
 7.  Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 0.535s
 8.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc       + 0.609s
 9.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW      + 0.661s
10.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.811s
11.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW      + 0.949s
12.  Facu Regalia        Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 1.153s
13.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Prema Dallara-Merc       + 1.281s
14.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc   + 1.715s
15.  Artem Markelov      Motopark Dallara-VW      + 2.161s

Race 3 grid

Pos  Driver             Car                       Time/Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc      1m31.693s
 2.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 0.090s
 3.  Carlos Sainz Jr     Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.329s
 4.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.433s
 5.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.444s
 6.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW     + 0.584s
 7.  Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 0.771s
 8.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc       + 0.780s
 9.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW      + 0.829s
10.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW     + 1.052s
11.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW      + 1.127s
12.  Facu Regalia        Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 1.318s
13.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Prema Dallara-Merc       + 1.451s
14.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc   + 1.952s
15.  Artem Markelov      Motopark Dallara-VW      + 2.402s