Vergne tops Hockenheim qualifying
Jean-Eric Vergne claimed both pole positions on offer in today's British Formula 3 qualifying session at Hockenheim
The Carlin driver, who lost his championship lead to Fortec's Oli Webb in France a week ago, had a comfortable 0.4-second margin over nearest challenger Gabriel Dias (Hitech), which was sufficient to give him pole for both race one and race three this weekend.
Vergne achieved his double pole despite a mechanical problem sidelining him for the last part of the session, which was interrupted by a red flag after T-Sport's Alex Brundle crashed, and also saw confusion with every single driver in the field having at least one lap time deleted for corner cutting or excessive use of the run-off areas.
"The car was very good today, we had a great set-up and I was able to push and put in four really good laps," Vergne said.
"Unfortunately I had to miss the last part of the session which was a pity because I think we could have been even quicker. We're confident that we won't have a problem tomorrow and we're in the best possible shape now for the races."
Second-placed Dias and his Hitech team-mate William Buller sandwiched Carlin's Adriano Buzaid in third on the race three grid - set by drivers' fastest times today - with points leader Webb back in fifth. The top three is the same for race one, but Webb is up to fourth while Buller drops to eighth.
Silverstone winner James Calado was one of those worst affected by the corner cutting penalties and ended up only 12th for Carlin in the race three order and last of all for race one.
Former British Formula Ford champion Wayne Boyd, who won at Donington Park for T-Sport last year, has rejoined the series with Sino Vision this weekend. He was 15th fastest.
Grid for race one: Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin D/V 1m33.830s 2. Gabriel Dias Hitech D/V 1m34.283s + 0.453s 3. Adriano Buzaid Carlin D/V 1m34.377s + 0.547s 4. Oli Webb Fortec D/M 1m34.575s + 0.745s 5. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin D/V 1m34.742s + 0.912s 6. Daisuke Nakajima Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.883s + 1.053s 7. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/M 1m34.990s + 1.160s 8. William Buller Hitech D/V 1m35.011s + 1.181s 9. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin D/V 1m35.017s + 1.187s 10. Carlos Huertas Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m35.180s + 1.350s 11. Alex Brundle T-Sport D/V 1m35.328s + 1.498s 12. Lucas Foresti Carlin D/V 1m35.383s + 1.553s 13. Felipe Nasr Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m35.699s + 1.869s 14. Maxim Snegirev Fortec D/M 1m35.705s + 1.875s 15. Jay Bridger Litespeed D/M 1m35.744s + 1.914s 16. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport D/H 1m35.763s + 1.933s 17. James Cole T-Sport D/H 1m35.771s + 1.941s 18. Adderly Fong Sino Vision D/M 1m35.822s + 1.992s 19. Wayne Boyd Sino Vision D/M 1m36.025s + 2.195s 20. Hywel Lloyd CF/Manor D/M 1m36.143s + 2.313s 21. James Calado Carlin D/V 1m37.396s + 3.566s Grid for race three: Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin D/V 1m33.779s 2. Gabriel Dias Hitech D/V 1m34.199s + 0.420 3. Adriano Buzaid Carlin D/V 1m34.263s + 0.484 4. William Buller Hitech D/V 1m34.407s + 0.628 5. Oliver Webb Fortec D/M 1m34.517s + 0.738 6. Daisuke Nakajima Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.579s + 0.800 7. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin D/V 1m34.650s + 0.871 8. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin D/V 1m34.740s + 0.961 9. Carlos Huertas Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m34.844s + 1.065 10. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/M 1m34.939s + 1.160 11. Lucas Foresti Carlin D/V 1m34.970s + 1.191 12. James Calado Carlin D/V 1m35.115s + 1.336 13. Alex Brundle T-Sport D/V 1m35.303s + 1.524 14. Felipe Nasr Raikkonen Robertson D/M 1m35.421s + 1.642 15. Wayne Boyd Sino Vision D/M 1m35.444s + 1.665 16. Max Snegirev Fortec D/M 1m35.506s + 1.727 17. Jay Bridger Litespeed D/M 1m35.513s + 1.734 18. James Cole T-Sport D/H 1m35.543s + 1.764 19. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport D/H 1m35.546s + 1.767 20. Adderley Fong Sino Vision D/M 1m35.708s + 1.929 21. Hywel Lloyd CF/Manor D/M 1m35.858s + 2.079
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