Qualifying: Diefenbacher’s 100% record broken

Runaway German Formula 3 Championship leader Frank Diefenbacher added another pole to his tally for Sunday's fourth round of the series at the Nurburgring, but Pierre Kaffer ruined his 100 percent record by snatching pole for Saturday's race

May 5, 2001, 10:14 AM

Kaffer lapped his Team Kolles Racing Dallara-Mugen in 1m34.224s, just 0.009secs quicker than Diefenbacher's last-ditch effort in his BSR Dallara-Opel. Frank held a half-second advantage over the rest for Sunday's race, however, with team mate Toshihiro Kaneishi joining him on the front row.

Kaffer could only manage seventh for Sunday's race, two places ahead of Britain's Gary Paffett, who couldn't match the form he showed in the opening rounds at Hockenheim a fortnight ago. Paffett (Team Rosberg Dallara-Renault) slumped to 16th on Saturday's grid, all but matching his time from the first session while everyone else around him went quicker.

Another surprise for today's race is the emergence of Cram Competition's Raffaele Giammaria, who missed out on pole by just 0.034secs and will start third. He only qualified 27th for Sunday's event.