Varhaug grabs maiden IFM pole
Pal Varhaug scored his maiden International Formula Master pole position at Brno on Saturday
The 18-year-old Norwegian came out on top of a drying qualifying session in which five drivers squabbled over pole in the dying minutes.
The times tumbled with every flying lap as a dry line emerged and Varhaug nicked pole away from fellow joint championship leader Fabio Leimer with under a minute remaining.
Leimer had been on top for most of the half hour session and was the first driver to break into the 2m02s and then the 2m01s, but Varhaug timed his last flyer perfectly and went nearly half a second quicker.
Josef Kral briefly popped onto provisional pole on home soil, until Varhaug came round and beat his time by a tenth.
"The track was getting drier and drier, and Pal was half a lap behind me so he could beat me time on his last lap," said Kral.
Leimer was pushed down to third ahead of Nicolas Maulini and Sergei Afanasiev, who had both held second spot prior to the last lap efforts of Varhaug and Kral.
Erik Janis completed the top six on his return to the series, having last appeared in 2007, with Vladimir Arabadzhiev and Alexander Rossi seventh and eighth.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Pal Varhaug Jenzer 2m01.124s 2. Josef Kral JD 2m01.203s +0.079 3. Fabio Leimer Jenzer 2m01.545s +0.421 4. Nicolas Maulini Jenzer 2m01.865s +0.741 5. Sergei Afanasiev JD 2m01.875s +0.751 6. Erik Janis ISR 2m02.009s +0.885 7. Vladimir Arabadzhiev JD 2m02.085s +0.961 8. Alexander Rossi ISR 2m02.737s +1.613 9. Alessandro Kouzkin Cram 2m03.496s +2.372 10. Simon Trummer Iris 2m03.621s +2.497 11. Patrick Reiterer Iris 2m04.474s +3.350 12. Kasper Andersen Hitech 2m04.610s +3.486 13. Kelvin Snoeks AR 2m04.931s +3.807 14. Matteo Davenia Cram 2m06.157s +5.033 15. Dennis Retera AR 2m06.208s +5.084
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