Red Bull Ring GP3: Alex Lynn tops tight qualifying for Carlin
Alex Lynn registered his second pole position of the season in round two of the GP3 Series at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday morning in a thrillingly-competitive qualifying session
In cool alpine conditions, with an air temp of only 12C, Lynn's session started badly when he went off at Turn 1 on his first flying lap.
He quickly recovered his composure to set two identical 1m21.043s laps in his Carlin machine, and these stood as the fastest time on the first set of tyres.
As the track rubbered-in during the second runs, Lynn dropped down to sixth, as Marvin Kirchhofer (ART) and Patrick Kujala (Manor) swapped the top spot between them. Then ART's Alex Fontana went quickest, just as Lynn got trapped in traffic.
But with just 34 seconds remaining in the session, Lynn recorded a 1m20.585s to beat Fontana to P1 by 0.023s, with Manor's Dean Stoneman in third, 0.079s off the best time.
Lynn's chances of improving on his very last lap were thwarted by Stoneman, whom he caught at the apex of Turn 8 as his fellow Brit was returning to the pits.
Lynn's team-mate Emil Bernstorff will start fourth, ahead of Kujala.
Jimmy Eriksson was sixth, from Kirchhofer, Ritchie Stanaway and Nick Yelloly.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Alex Lynn Carlin 1m20.585s 2. Alex Fontana ART 1m20.608s +0.023s 3. Dean Stoneman Manor 1m20.664s +0.079s 4. Emil Bernstorff Carlin 1m20.693s +0.108s 5. Patrick Kujala Manor 1m20.744s +0.159s 6. Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen 1m20.797s +0.212s 7. Marvin Kirchhofer ART 1m20.863s +0.278s 8. Richie Stanaway Status 1m20.974s +0.389s 9. Nick Yelloly Status 1m21.071s +0.486s 10. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m21.142s +0.557s 11. Riccardo Agostini Hilmer 1m21.149s +0.564s 12. Dino Zamparelli ART 1m21.168s +0.583s 13. Nelson Mason Hilmer 1m21.193s +0.608s 14. Matheo Tuscher Jenzer 1m21.225s +0.640s 15. Jann Mardenborough Arden 1m21.227s +0.642s 16. Patric Niederhauser Arden 1m21.236s +0.651s 17. Robert Visoiu Arden 1m21.309s +0.724s 18. Santiago Urrutia Koiranen 1m21.382s +0.797s 19. Roman de Beer Trident 1m21.491s +0.906s 20. Alfonso Celis Status 1m21.591s +1.006s 21. Pal Varhaug Jenzer 1m21.654s +1.069s 22. Adderly Fong Jenzer 1m21.908s +1.323s 23. Victor Carbone Trident 1m22.125s +1.540s 24. Nikolay Martsenko Hilmer 1m22.171s +1.586s 25. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m22.259s +1.674s 26. Carmen Jorda Koiranen 1m23.802s +3.217s
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