Nasr and Foresti take Oulton poles
Felipe Nasr and Lucas Foresti locked out the front row and the two pole positions in qualifying for the second round of British Formula 3 at Oulton Park
Late improvements from the two Brazilians denied T-Sport's Menasheh Idafar what would have been a sensational double pole position result from a hectic qualifying session.
Carlin's Kevin Magnussen had just set the fastest time of the session when he crashed heavily at Cascades 10 minutes into the 30-minute session and brought out the red flags.
Idafar produced the most impressive qualifying performance of his F3 career when the session resumed - completing two low 1m28s laps to knock Carlin's Rupert Svendsen-Cook off the top spot.
When Svendsen-Cook then ran wide at Old Hall corner, hit a bump, bent his suspension and brought out the red flags for a second time, it looked as though Idafar had two poles secured with only five minutes to run at the next resumption.
But championship leader Nasr (Carlin) became the first driver to lap sub 1m28s this weekend to steal the top spot away from his British-born Bahraini rival.
Nasr's second best lap looked good enough to claim the other pole on offer until Fortec's Lucas Foresti went second fastest in the dying seconds and then joined his fellow Brazilian in going sub-1m28s on his final lap.
That final effort was good enough for second overall, but Foresti's second best time edged Nasr by less than half a tenth, which means he will start this afternoon's opening race from the first pole of his British F3 career.
Idafar's superb effort was still good enough to net him a brace of thirds, while Svendsen-Cook ended up fourth fastest despite his early exit, but will only start ninth for this afternoon's first race on account of a significantly slower second best time.
His Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar sat out the final five minutes of the session and ended up fifth quickest, just fractions clear of Fortec's Will Buller, who joined team-mate Foresti in improving right at the death. Buller was seventh fastest in the race one order, but is carrying over a 10-place grid penalty earned in the previous event at Monza.
Rookie Harry Tincknell (Fortec) was another to go faster in the final five minutes - bumping him up to seventh ahead of Magnussen, who will start 13th this afternoon once Buller's penalty is applied.
Double R's Scott Pye did not quite repeat his strong practice form of yesterday and ended up ninth fastest, just over one hundredth of a second clear of practice pacesetter Carlos Huertas (Carlin), who finished up a disappointing 10th.
However, both produced decent second-best times, so will line up on row three for this afternoon's opening race.
Race one grid: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.165 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.207 + 0.042s 3. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m28.312 + 0.147s 4. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.392 + 0.227s 5. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 1m28.559 + 0.394s 6. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.593 + 0.428s 7. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.598 + 0.433s* 8. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.655 + 0.490s 9. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 1m28.829 + 0.664s 10. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.833 + 0.668s 11. Riki Christodoulou Hitech Dallara-VW 1m28.909 + 0.744s 12. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 1m28.922 + 0.757s 13. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m29.002 + 0.837s 14. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 1m29.512 + 1.347s 15. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m29.515 + 1.350s 16. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m29.563 + 1.398s 17. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m29.566 + 1.401s 18. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m29.739 + 1.574s 19. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 1m30.409 + 2.244s 20. Kotaru Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 1m40.832 + 12.667s * Buller will start 17th due to a 10-place penalty from Monza Race three grid: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m27.960s 2. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m27.965s + 0.005s 3. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m28.244s + 0.284s 4. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.331s + 0.371s 5. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.382s + 0.422s 6. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.403s + 0.443s 7. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.417s + 0.457s 8. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.481s + 0.521s 9. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 1m28.491s + 0.531s 10. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.503s + 0.543s 11. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 1m28.664s + 0.704s 12. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 1m28.693s + 0.733s 13. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m28.874s + 0.914s 14. Riki Christodoulou Hitech Dallara-VW 1m28.905s + 0.945s 15. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m29.158s + 1.198s 16. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 1m29.399s + 1.439s 17. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m29.410s + 1.450s 18. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 1m29.596s + 1.636s 19. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 1m30.054s + 2.094s 20. Kotaru Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 1m34.709s + 6.749s
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