Van der Garde on Lausitz Pole
Team Rosberg driver Giedo van der Garde will start from pole position at today's first F3 Euroseries race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany
The Dutchman timed his final lap to perfection in a session which started on wet tyres and finished on a rapidly-drying surface. He started his final run as the official timing flicked from one second remaining to zero. And as a result, he was able to make best use of the improving conditions to grab pole by over a tenth of a second.
German rookie Sebastian Vettel continued his impressive form by claiming second on the grid, again in the dying seconds of the session. ASM's Lewis Hamilton, who clinched the title last time out at Zandvoort, will start third after his final lap was slowed by traffic. Signature-Plus driver Loic Duval ended the session in fourth, ahead of Manor Motorsport's Lucas di Grassi, who was one of several drivers to spin. McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Paul di Resta, who claimed pole yesterday for the second race, crossed the line just after the session time ran out and was restricted to 13th.
"We hit the sweet spot," said van der Garde. "The track was still slippery in a lot of places - particularly in sector two - but we kept it together and the timing was perfect. We don't have a great wet set-up, I must admit, but we're in pole and hopefully we can have a good run from there."
Unfortunately for the pole-sitter, conditions for the race are likely to be wet. Heavy rain has caused chaos in both DTM practice and Sports Car Challenge qualifying since the F3 cars were on track.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Giedo van der Garde Team Rosberg 1:20.813 18 2. Sebastian Vettel ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:20.944 + 0.131 20 3. Lewis Hamilton ASM F3 1:21.230 + 0.417 17 4. Loic Duval Signature-Plus 1:21.307 + 0.494 18 5. Lucas di Grassi Manor Motorsport 1:22.216 + 1.403 16 6. Atila Abreu ASL Mucke Motorsport 1:22.326 + 1.513 19 7. Hannes Neuhauser HBR Motorsport 1:22.378 + 1.565 18 8. Franck Perera Prema Powerteam 1:22.561 + 1.748 18 9. Adrian Sutil ASM F3 1:22.658 + 1.845 18 10. Esteban Guerrieri Team Midland Euroseries 1:22.766 + 1.953 19 11. James Rossiter Signature-Plus 1:22.810 + 1.997 17 12. Guillaume Moreau Signature 1:22.824 + 2.011 19 13. Paul di Resta Manor Motorsport 1:23.181 + 2.368 16 14. Robert Austin Team Midland Euroseries 1:23.325 + 2.512 19 15. Thomas Holzer AM-Holzer Rennsport 1:23.351 + 2.538 20 16. Fabio Carbone Signature 1:23.910 + 3.097 19 17. Greg Franchi Prema Powerteam 1:24.421 + 3.608 20 18. Marco Bonanomi Prema Powerteam 1:24.594 + 3.781 20 19. Paolo Montin 1:24.623 + 3.810 16 20. Kohei Hirate Team Rosberg 1:25.849 + 5.036 15 21. Alejandro Nunez HBR Motorsport 1:26.328 + 5.515 18 22. Filip Salaquarda Team I.S.R. 1:26.970 + 6.157 17
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