Webb snatches pole from Vergne

The British Fortec racer struggled in yesterday's windswept test session, but some overnight head scratching and improved conditions today allowed Webb to set the pace and claim pole for today's first 30-minute race and tomorrow's 40-minute 'feature' event.

He left it late though, toppling his chief Carlin rival Vergne from the top spot with just six minutes of the session remaining. Webb's 1m12.147s edged him 0.146s clear at the head of the times and he underlined his and Fortec's improved form by setting another time good enough for pole.

"That was really good," said Webb. "We struggled a bit yesterday, did what you're supposed to do in testing and tested lots of things and were in the top three by the end, but we knew it [qualifying] was going to be hard.

"The whole team worked really, really hard overnight, the track is a lot better and the wind is down, so it suits us a lot more. Hopefully we can go on and get a couple of wins now."

Raikkonen Robertson Racing always goes well at Rockingham and underlined that fact by locking out row two in this qualifying session. Colombian Carlos Huertas set third fastest time, little more than half a tenth of a second clear of reigning Formula BMW champion Felipe Nasr.

Fellow Brazilian Pietro Fantin produced an impressive performance on his British F3 debut to go fifth quickest for Hitech, just ahead of Carlin duo Adriano Buzaid, Jazeman Jaafar.

Hitech's Gabriel Dias, Carlin's James Calado, and Raikkonen Robertson's Daisuke Nakajima rounded out the top 10.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M  1m12.271s
 2.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.378s  + 0.107s
 3.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V  1m12.439s  + 0.168s
 4.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.498s  + 0.227s
 5.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V  1m12.531s  + 0.260s
 6.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V  1m12.593s  + 0.322s
 7.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V  1m12.633s  + 0.362s
 8.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.750s  + 0.479s
 9.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V  1m12.774s  + 0.503s
10.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V  1m12.788s  + 0.517s
11.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech               D/V  1m12.816s  + 0.545s
12.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  1m12.884s  + 0.613s
13.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  1m12.907s  + 0.636s
14.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M  1m13.241s  + 0.970s
15.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H  1m13.379s  + 1.108s
16.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H  1m13.391s  + 1.120s
17.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  1m13.425s  + 1.154s
18.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M  1m13.485s  + 1.214s
19.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  1m13.546s  + 1.275s
20.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M  1m13.607s  + 1.336s
21.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  1m13.764s  + 1.493s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M  1m12.147s
 2.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V  1m12.293s  + 0.146s
 3.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.294s  + 0.147s
 4.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.359s  + 0.212s
 5.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech               D/V  1m12.461s  + 0.314s
 6.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V  1m12.463s  + 0.316s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V  1m12.504s  + 0.357s
 8.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V  1m12.520s  + 0.373s
 9.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V  1m12.522s  + 0.375s
10.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m12.663s  + 0.516s
11.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V  1m12.667s  + 0.520s
12.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  1m12.763s  + 0.616s
13.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  1m12.865s  + 0.718s
14.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M  1m12.874s  + 0.727s
15.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M  1m13.225s  + 1.078s
16.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H  1m13.266s  + 1.119s
17.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  1m13.287s  + 1.140s
18.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  1m13.312s  + 1.165s
19.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H  1m13.369s  + 1.222s
20.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  1m13.466s  + 1.319s
21.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M  1m13.550s  + 1.403s