Walker and Hartley top qualifying
James Walker and Brendon Hartley led the way in the two 20-minute qualifying groups ahead of the Formula Renault 3.5 superpole session at Silverstone
The A group was the first to take to the track with P1 Motorsport's Walker setting an initial benchmark of 1m34.800s, ahead of the Carlin duo Oliver Turvey and Jaime Alguersuari.
British F3 champion Alguersuari and FR3.5 championship leader Marcos Martinez demoted Walker with a little over a quarter of the session remaining, but Walker responded with two minutes left to post his fastest time of 1m33.697s.
A trio of Spaniards trailed the Jersey racer with Alguersuari 0.2s ahead of recent Superleague victor Adrian Valles and Martinez third. Home-grown drivers clinched the final Superpole slots, with Oliver Turvey fifth ahead of Greg Mansell, who progressed into his maiden superpole session.
The B Group was disrupted by a red flag with three minutes remaining, following a spectacular spin by Chris van der Drift on the approach to Bridge. The Kiwi's Epsilon Euskadi car took some time to be recovered from its stranded position across the middle of the track.
Tech 1's Hartley was leading the group at the time of the stoppage and, as the sole driver under the 1m34s mark, felt sufficiently confident not to venture out after the restart.
Two regular contenders for victory, Charles Pic and Miguel Molina, were not afforded that luxury, both outside the top six having been caught out by the stoppage.
With enough time for only one flying lap, Pic was one of few drivers to improve. The Renault Development Driver leapt ahead of Bertrand Baguette to clinch fifth spot and as a consequence bumped Jon Lancaster out of a superpole place.
Walker's P1 team-mate Daniil Move showed well to set the second fastest time in the B session, ahead of Hungary reverse-grid winner Fairuz Fauzy and Marco Barba.
Group A
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. James Walker P1 1m33.697s 2. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin 1m34.018s +0.321 3. Adrian Valles Epsilon 1m34.242s +0.545 4. Marcos Martinez Pons 1m34.316s +0.619 5. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1m34.328s +0.631 6. Greg Mansell Ultimate 1m34.509s +0.812 7. Adrian Zaugg Interwetten 1m34.650s +0.953 8. John Martin Comtec 1m34.677s +0.980 9. Michael Herck Interwetten 1m34.786s +1.089 10. Sten Pentus Fortec 1m34.851s +1.154 11. Pasquae Di Sabatino RC 1m34.863s +1.166 12. Guillaume Moreau SG 1m35.083s +1.386 13. Anton Nebylitskiy SG 1m36.207s +2.510
Group BPos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Brendon Hartley Tech 1 1m33.954s
2. Daniil Move P1 1m34.398s +0.444
3. Fairuz Fauzy Fortec 1m34.494s +0.540
4. Marco Barba Draco 1m34.509s +0.555
5. Charles Pic Tech 1 1m34.581s +0.627
6. Bertrand Baguette Draco 1m34.631s +0.677
7. Jon Lancaster Comtec 1m34.647s +0.693
8. Miguel Molina Ultimate 1m34.671s +0.717
9. Chris van der Drift Epsilon 1m36.175s +2.221
10. Federico Leo Pons 1m36.289s +2.335
11. Filip Salaquarda Prema 1m36.342s +2.388
12. Omar Leal Prema 1m36.345s +2.391
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