Vergne takes two poles in France
Jean-Eric Vergne was in sublime form at Magny-Cours this morning - dominating qualifying for British Formula 3's first races at the French circuit
No one could get near the home hero's pace, as he comfortably set two times quick enough to annex pole positions for both races one and three.
With cooler conditions and less wind than yesterday, the track appeared to become the best part of a second faster in qualifying.
Vergne (Carlin) set a 1m33.296s best on his first set of new tyres, before improving to 1m33.123s on his second. His closest rival in the championship, Oli Webb, was also his nearest challenger in qualifying, but the Fortec man found himself nearly four tenths adrift at the end of the session.
"We knew it was a bit colder and the wind was less, so we changed the car quite a bit from yesterday," said Vergne. "We also took the best stuff we found from the test yesterday and I had a really, really good car, so pushing was quite easy."
Webb's Fortec team-mate Daniel McKenzie produced by far the best qualifying performance of his Formula 3 career to go third quickest. The reigning National Class champion wound up only ninth fastest in yesterday's test, over three tenths adrift of his team-mate, but closed that gap to a shade over a tenth in qualifying, as both improved by well over a second.
Hitech's Gabriel Dias was the only other driver to break through the 1m34s barrier. He recovered from an engine failure in testing to go fourth quickest, a tenth clear of team-mate William Buller.
Carlin's Rupert Svendsen-Cook felt before the session that he would be in contention for the front row, but wound up sixth after finding only seven tenths compared with yesterday.
Team-mate and Silverstone race winner James Calado similarly failed to find enough time and wound up seventh. He struggled for speed on his first set of tyres, and his half second improvement on yesterday's pace with his second set still left him over 1.2s adrift of pole. He had lapped within half a second of Vergne in testing.
The three Raikkonen Robertson drivers also struggled in qualifying, to the bafflement of team boss Anthony 'Boyo' Hieatt. The best of the trio, Carlos Huertas was second fastest yesterday (0.385s off the pace), but slipped to ninth in qualifying (1.260s adrift). Team-mates Felipe Nasr and Daisuke Nakajima fared even less well and wound up 12th and 14th.
T-Sport's Menasheh Idafar claimed the National Class pole in 16th overall. He finished up two places and less than a tenth clear of team-mate and title rival James Cole, but nearly two seconds adrift of the ultimate pace.
Grid for race one: Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin D/V 1m33.296s 2. Oli Webb Fortec D/M 1m33.837s + 0.541s 3. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/M 1m33.926s + 0.630s 4. Gabriel Dias Hitech D/V 1m34.076s + 0.780s 5. William Buller Hitech D/V 1m34.103s + 0.807s 6. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin D/V 1m34.272s + 0.976s 7. Adriano Buzaid Carlin D/V 1m34.374s + 1.078s 8. Carlos Huertas Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.422s + 1.126s 9. Felipe Nasr Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.452s + 1.156s 10. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin D/V 1m34.524s + 1.228s 11. James Calado Carlin D/V 1m34.525s + 1.229s 12. Alex Brundle T-Sport D/V 1m34.567s + 1.271s 13. Lucas Foresti Carlin D/V 1m34.610s + 1.314s 14. Hywel Lloyd CF/Manor D/M 1m34.828s + 1.532s 15. Daisuke Nakajima Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.975s + 1.679s 16. Jay Bridger Litespeed D/M 1m35.087s + 1.791s 17. James Cole T-Sport D/H 1m35.256s + 1.960s 18. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport D/H 1m35.360s + 2.064s 19. Rio Haryanto CF/Manor D/M 1m35.463s + 2.167s 20. Max Snegirev Fortec D/M 1m35.928s + 2.632s 21. Adderly Fong Sino Vision D/M 1m37.088s + 3.792s Grid for race three: Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin D/V 1m33.123s 2. Oli Webb Fortec D/M 1m33.521s + 0.398s 3. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/M 1m33.651s + 0.528s 4. Gabriel Dias Hitech D/V 1m33.908s + 0.785s 5. William Buller Hitech D/V 1m34.018s + 0.895s 6. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin D/V 1m34.240s + 1.117s 7. James Calado Carlin D/V 1m34.341s + 1.218s 8. Adriano Buzaid Carlin D/V 1m34.368s + 1.245s 9. Carlos Huertas Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.383s + 1.260s 10. Alex Brundle T-Sport D/V 1m34.421s + 1.298s 11. Lucas Foresti Carlin D/V 1m34.422s + 1.299s 12. Felipe Nasr Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.430s + 1.307s 13. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin D/V 1m34.440s + 1.317s 14. Daisuke Nakajima Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.596s + 1.473s 15. Hywel Lloyd CF/Manor D/M 1m34.661s + 1.538s 16. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport D/H 1m35.065s + 1.942s 17. Jay Bridger Litespeed D/M 1m35.073s + 1.950s 18. James Cole T-Sport D/H 1m35.160s + 2.037s 19. Rio Haryanto CF/Manor D/M 1m35.417s + 2.294s 20. Max Snegirev Fortec D/M 1m35.744s + 2.621s 21. Adderly Fong Sino Vision D/M 1m36.695s + 3.572s
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