Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Albert Costa takes pole for Formula Renault 3.5 finale

Epic Racing's Albert Costa claimed his maiden pole position in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the final race of 2011 at Barcelona today

The 2009 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup champion has a history of struggling to raise a budget, and has raced for the past three seasons on a combination of prize money, limited backing and support from his teams.

Costa, who qualified on the front row in Saturday's race before colliding on the first lap with Jake Rosenzweig (Mofaz), is conscious that this weekend's meeting may be his last opportunity in single-seaters.

"Yesterday night after I went to bed I said to my cousin, who was sharing a room with me, 'Man, tomorrow I don't have anything to lose, because I have lost everything today, so I am going to push like hell,'" said Costa.

"If I take a risk and go out, well, that's racing. But I will push because maybe this is my last race. Everybody needs to know I am here for racing, not to say 'I am driver and this is a good life.' I have given everything, and at the moment this is the result."

Race one victor Robert Wickens will join Costa on the front row of this afternoon's race. The Carlin racer carries a slender nine-point lead over his only rival for the drivers' championship, team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Vergne left it late to haul himself up to an eventual fifth spot, and had been demoted to 24th position with just three minutes of the half-hour session remaining.

Both title protagonists will be aiming to emulate former Carlin FR3.5 driver Sebastian Vettel, whose Formula 1 world championship celebrations were played out in the Carlin awning after qualifying.

KMP Racing's Anton Nebylitskiy enjoyed a marked upturn in form to qualify third, and is well-placed to improve on his season best result of sixth place. GP3 graduate Nick Yelloly was just 0.052 seconds adrift of Nebylitskiy, and will join the Russian on the outside of the second row.

After a quiet run of races, former Italian Formula 3 champion Daniel Zampieri demonstrated that his Friday practice pace was no aberration to qualify a solid sixth for BVM Target.

American Rosenzweig, perhaps, should also have been at the sharp end. In the final meeting for Mofaz's FR3.5 team, Rosenzweig held sixth place after the first runs on new tyres. Last year's Spa pole winner was just 0.1s adrift of Costa on his second set of tyres before suffering a spin.

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Albert Costa       Epic             1m32.343s
 2.  Robert Wickens     Carlin           1m32.599s  + 0.256s
 3.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              1m32.899s  + 0.556s
 4.  Nick Yelloly       Pons             1m32.951s  + 0.608s
 5.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Carlin           1m33.096s  + 0.753s
 6.  Daniel Zampieri    BVM Target       1m33.212s  + 0.869s
 7.  Alexander Rossi    Fortec           1m33.243s  + 0.900s
 8.  Nathanael Berthon  ISR              1m33.296s  + 0.953s
 9.  Stephane Richelmi  Draco            1m33.390s  + 1.047s
10.  Sergio Canamasas   BVM Target       1m33.403s  + 1.060s
11.  Daniel de Jong     Comtec           1m33.460s  + 1.117s
12.  Kevin Korjus       Tech 1           1m33.462s  + 1.119s
13.  Brendon Hartley    Gravity-Charouz  1m33.482s  + 1.139s
14.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               1m33.507s  + 1.164s
15.  Daniil Move        P1               1m33.563s  + 1.220s
16.  Fairuz Fauzy       Mofaz            1m33.632s  + 1.289s
17.  Oliver Webb        Pons             1m33.661s  + 1.318s
18.  Nelson Panciatici  KMP              1m33.740s  + 1.397s
19.  Cesar Ramos        Fortec           1m33.784s  + 1.441s
20.  Adrien Tambay      Draco            1m33.803s  + 1.460s
21.  Lewis Williamson   ISR              1m33.818s  + 1.475s
22.  Jake Rosenzweig    Mofaz            1m33.835s  + 1.492s
23.  Arthur Pic         Tech 1           1m33.936s  + 1.593s
24.  Jan Charouz        Gravity-Charouz  1m33.943s  + 1.600s
25.  Sten Pentus        Epic             1m34.097s  + 1.754s
26.  Daniel McKenzie    Comtec           1m34.351s  + 2.008s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Robert Wickens wins at Barcelona but Formula Renault 3.5 title rival Jean-Eric Vergne flies to second
Next article Robert Wickens takes Formula Renault 3.5 title as Albert Costa wins chaotic finale

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe