Van der Zande takes Algarve pole
Dutch Formula 3 veteran Renger van der Zande will line up on pole position for the first British F3 race in the Algarve after producing a late flourish to secure the top spot during first qualifying in Portugal this morning
Carlin's Max Chilton looked to have the spot sewn up after becoming the first man to dip below 1m38s either side of a mid-session stoppage, but Hitech Racing driver van der Zande hooked his sectors together and used a cheeky tow from his rival to grab the pole by 0.163s at the death.
Paddock insiders tipped six drivers to contest the fight for the top spot before the session began and they duly delivered, with van der Zande, Chilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Jules Bianchi and Roberto Merhi all making the top six.
Of them only Chilton hit the track early on, but pumped in a scorching 1m37.892s time on only his third lap to hit the front.
The major players all took to the circuit just as Satrio Hermanto's Litespeed car stopped on the exit of Turn 4, causing a red flag mid-way through the half-hour session. As the National Class racer's SLC was hauled back to the pits, the order read Chilton, Philip Major, Wayne Boyd, Adriano Buzaid, Pedro Enrique, Kevin Chen.
When the session restarted, the expected leading runners all risked tripping over each other by taking to the track immediately, no doubt desperate to bang in a banker lap with time running out.
Bottas (ART), championship leader Ricciardo (Carlin) and van der Zande all took turns to set the second fastest time, before Chilton set his second lap below 1m38s to seemingly end the contest for pole. Chilton pitted just before van der Zande eclipsed his rival to grab the top spot.
Ricciardo had several goes at getting back on to the front row, but he just could not muster a lap faster than 1m38.1s and eventually found himself bumped to the back of row two, when F3 Euro Series points leader Bianchi, who struggled in the first part of the lap but was quick everywhere else, made a late leap into third.
The Frenchman's ART team-mate Bottas produced a similar last gasp effort to take fifth, just ahead of Manor Motorsport driver Merhi.
All this demoted Carlos Huertas (Double R), who much like yesterday looked set to crack the top six, but wound up outside by mere hundredths of a second.
Series returnee Sam Bird (Fortec), reigning Formula BMW Europe champion Esteban Gutierrez (ART) and Bird's Fortec team-mate Riki Christodoulou rounded out the top 10, while Walter Grubmuller's fading title hopes took another hit as he wound up 13th fastest, over 1.2s off the pace.
Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M 1m37.729s 2. Max Chilton Carlin D/V 1m37.892s + 0.163s 3. Jules Bianchi ART D/M 1m38.086s + 0.357s 4. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 1m38.105s + 0.376s 5. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M 1m38.202s + 0.473s 6. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M 1m38.251s + 0.522s 7. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M 1m38.276s + 0.547s 8. Sam Bird Fortec D/M 1m38.427s + 0.698s 9. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M 1m38.647s + 0.918s 10. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M 1m38.701s + 0.972s 11. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M 1m38.852s + 1.123s 12. Philip Major Carlin D/V 1m38.946s + 1.217s 13. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 1m38.957s + 1.228s 14. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V 1m39.251s + 1.522s 15. Pedro Enrique Manor D/M 1m39.267s + 1.538s 16. Adrien Tambay ART D/M 1m39.293s + 1.564s 17. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M 1m39.325s + 1.596s 18. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H 1m39.338s + 1.609s 19. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V 1m39.354s + 1.625s 20. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V 1m39.471s + 1.742s 21. Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H 1m39.516s + 1.787s 22. Jay Bridger Litespeed M/H 1m39.617s + 1.888s 23. Daniel Mckenzie Fortec D/H 1m39.729s + 2.000s 24. Stephane Richelmi Barazi-Epsilon D/M 1m39.764s + 2.035s 25. Kevin Chen Double R D/M 1m40.301s + 2.572s 26. Joe Ghanem Carlin D/H 1m41.413s + 3.684s 27. Mathieu Maurage West-Tec D/H 1m42.239s + 4.510s 28. Max Snegirev West-Tec D/H 1m42.353s + 4.624s 29. Satrio Hermanto Litespeed S/H 1m49.676s + 11.947s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The supercharged Revolution that has piqued an Olympic legend's motorsport taste
How Radical revamped its record-breaking flagship model
Inside the lightweight Czech sportscar making its mark on the UK
Cadillac's van der Zande fears rivals "built cars to suit Le Mans only"
Aitken joins second Ganassi-run Cadillac line-up for WEC Spa 6 Hours
61 cars make Daytona 24 Hours “like a gymkhana”, says Bourdais
Alonso laments "game of who can run less" in F1 sprint event practice
F1 24: New features for revamped career mode include icon drivers, two-player mode
Hadjar and Marti complete Campos 1-2 in F2 testing in Barcelona
A2RL launches new era of autonomous motorsport in Abu Dhabi
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Why F1's junior logjam isn't entirely a product of current issues
Ranking the top 10 drivers on F1's undercard in 2023
Ranking the 10 best drivers from F1's junior series in 2022
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