Lancaster earns maiden FR3.5 pole
Jon Lancaster claimed his maiden Formula Renault 3.5 pole position of the season with a stunning performance at Silverstone
The Fortec racer gave an indication of his superiority on his first flying lap, becoming the first driver of the weekend under the 1m46s mark. On a second set of new tyres the Briton recorded a time of 1m44.673s to finish almost half a second clear of second-placed Esteban Guerrieri.
"I was happy with that!" said Lancaster. "It was one of the best laps that I have put together in my life. A couple of other drivers have just come up to me and said, 'so, have you come here a lot then?' But it this is only the second time that I have been here; last year in World Series, on the old circuit, and this year.
"We had a good balance and I felt confident in all of the fast corners. We have been fast all year, but we have had breakdowns and silly incidents. I cleared my head over the break, and at Hockenheim we were on it and now here.
"What makes it so special is that we have been almost penniless with the budget this year. If it wasn't for the help of some good friends I wouldn't be here. [Team boss] Richard [Dutton] has been fantastic to support us, so this is as good as it gets."
In a good result for neutrals, title challengers Esteban Guerrieri and Daniel Ricciardo will start second and third for this afternoon's low aero configuration race, while championship leader Mikhail Aleshin could only manage the 10th fastest time.
ISR's Guerrieri suffered a scare on his final lap when he ran wide at the high speed Stowe corner and failed to negotiate the turn. The last minute of the half hour session continued with yellows covering the corner, which meant Guerrieri did not lose his fastest time as would have happened had a red flag been required.
"I hit the wall," said Guerrieri. "I put a wheel off the road on the outside before turning in and went straight off the road. It was my last lap and I was really pushing as I was a tenth up in the first sector. It was only a touch so I am fine, but I am scared that we may have damaged the steering rack, like in Spa, in which case the team will struggle to get the car ready for the race.
"At least I have kept my front row place, though. I was worried that they would red flag the session. As soon as I hit the wall I was on the radio to ask my engineer if they would stop it, but fortunately the chequered flag had come out."
In another, more unusual, incident there were heated scenes in ISR's pit garage post-session when Pons Racing's Daniel Zampieri paid a visit to remonstrate about being blocked by Filip Salaquarda when on a fast lap, and had an altercation with team boss Igor Salaquarda, who had stepped in to try and calm the situation.
In an impressive showing in only his second Formula Renault 3.5 meeting, British Formula 3 champion Jean-Eric Vergne will join Tech 1 Racing team-mate Ricciardo on the second row.
Fellow Frenchman Nathanael Berthon will line up fifth for Draco, the Brno victor edging out Albert Costa by 0.074s.
Brendon Hartley, standing in for the injured Jan Charouz at P1 Motorsport, took a solid seventh place. The second P1 entry of Walter Grubmuller will start from last - the Austrian's car having sustained suspected gearbox damage after going backwards in a spin while engaged in a forward gear.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Jon Lancaster Fortec 1m44.673s 2. Esteban Guerrieri ISR 1m45.146s + 0.473s 3. Daniel Ricciardo Tech 1 1m45.313s + 0.640s 4. Jean Eric Vergne Tech 1 1m45.684s + 1.011s 5. Nathanael Berthon Draco 1m45.747s + 1.074s 6. Albert Costa Epsilon Euskadi 1m45.821s + 1.148s 7. Brendon Hartley P1 1m45.861s + 1.188s 8. Sten Pentus Fortec 1m45.916s + 1.243s 9. Nelson Panciatici Junior Lotus 1m46.176s + 1.503s 10. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin 1m46.192s + 1.519s 11. Filip Salaquarda ISR 1m46.315s + 1.642s 12. Victor Garcia KMP 1m46.431s + 1.758s 13. Stefano Coletti Comtec 1m46.511s + 1.838s 14. Anton Nebylitskiy KMP 1m46.719s + 2.046s 15. Greg Mansell Comtec 1m46.843s + 2.170s 16. Keisuke Kunimoto Epsilon Euskadi 1m46.903s + 2.230s 17. Julian Leal Draco 1m46.921s + 2.248s 18. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin 1m47.006s + 2.333s 19. Federico Leo Pons 1m47.020s + 2.347s 20. Daniel Zampieri Pons 1m47.222s + 2.549s 21. Sergio Canamasas FHV Interwetten 1m47.869s + 3.196s 22. Bruno Mendez FHV Interwetten 1m48.204s + 3.531s 23. Daniil Move Junior Lotus 1m48.404s + 3.731s 24. Walter Grubmuller P1 1m56.498s + 11.825s
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