Van der Garde takes Norisring pole
Holland's Giedo van der Garde scored his second-ever Formula Three Euroseries pole - and his first of this season - at Norisring on Friday evening, heading an ASM Dallara-Mercedes 1-2-3
After all four ASM cars had sat-out the first third of the session, waiting for the initial flurry of cars on track to clear, championship leader Paul di Resta appeared to have locked out the top spot with a 49.328 second lap. But van der Garde had more in reserve and banged in a 49.194 second flyer late on, to which di Resta was unable to respond.
"Qualifying worked out perfectly," said McLaren Junior driver van der Garde, who languishes in 14th position in the championship due to a terrible start to his season. "Our strategy of waiting in the pits for the first few minutes and go out later was spot on."
Di Resta, who missed out on the chance to extend his series lead with the point for pole, added: "The result is all right. The main thing is that I am starting in front of Esteban Guerrieri as he is right behind me in the championship. I didn't get the maximum out of my flying lap."
Sebastian Vettel, fresh from his double victory on his World Series by Renault debut last weekend, was third fastest, ahead of Mucke Motorsport's Jonathan Summerton and Sebastien Buemi. The latter clanged the wall at the last corner, bending his right-front suspension, but he held on to fifth regardless.
Guerrieri was the fastest of the Manor Motorsport cars in sixth, over half a second off pole. Tim Sandtler led the Signature squad for a change, ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Giedo van der Garde ASM 49.194 2. Paul di Resta ASM 49.328 + 0.134 3. Sebastian Vettel ASM 49.475 + 0.281 4. Jonathan Summerton Mucke 49.688 + 0.494 5. Sebastien Buemi Mucke 49.708 + 0.514 6. Esteban Guerrieri Manor 49.724 + 0.530 7. Tim Sandtler Signature 49.837 + 0.643 8. Romain Grosjean Signature 49.841 + 0.647 9. Kamui Kobayashi ASM 49.857 + 0.663 10. Kohei Hirate Manor 49.858 + 0.664 11. Peter Elkmann Jo Zeller 49.893 + 0.699 12. Richard Antinucci HBR 49.927 + 0.733 13. Guillaume Moreau Signature 50.058 + 0.864 14. Joao Urbano Prema 50.065 + 0.871 15. Alejandro Nunez Prema 50.211 + 1.017 16. Kazuki Nakajima Manor 50.224 + 1.030 17. Michael Herck Leinders 50.263 + 1.069 18. Charlie Kimball Signature 50.443 + 1.249 19. Ronayne O'Mahony Prema 50.825 + 1.631 20. Natacha Gachnang Bordoli 50.903 + 1.709 21. Anthony Janiec Janiec 51.291 + 2.097 22. Dominik Schraml FS 51.373 + 2.179 23. Julian Theobold SMS Seyffarth 51.978 + 2.784 24. Cemil Cipa HBR 52.532 + 3.338 25. Filip Salaquarda ISR 53.805 + 4.611 26. Gina-Maria Adenauer SMS Seyffarth 53.947 + 4.753
Share Or Save This Story
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
How IMSA's GTP revival proved worthy of its name
How Rosenqvist came of age in the closest Indy 500 finish in history
Why "awesome" Canadian GP has convinced Hamilton he's "probably better without" Ferrari simulator
Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2026
How Ferrari and Audi could decide Verstappen's F1 future
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments