Adrian Quaife-Hobbs takes home GP3 pole position at Silverstone

The Valencia race winner came out on top after a pulsating battle for pole that raged throughout the half-hour session. Following the wet conditions of Friday's practice sessions, the track was dry from the start, and as the Pirelli rubber went down it got quicker and quicker.

Quaife-Hobbs (Manor) was a pacesetter from the start, battling throughout the early part of the session with fellow Briton Lewis Williamson (MW Arden). As the cars pitted for their second set of new tyres, the order was Williamson, Quaife-Hobbs and Alexander Sims (Status).

Those positions quickly became irrelevant, as the times tumbled on new rubber. Williamson looked to have sealed it, and was 0.6 seconds quicker than everyone with a couple of minutes remaining, but then Quaife-Hobbs put the matter beyond doubt with a 1m51.190s lap, 0.3s faster than anyone else could manage.

Best of the rest was ART's James Calado, and will keep the place after the stewards decided to rescind a 10-place grid penalty that had originally awarded for a yellow flag infringement yesterday.

Williamson will start fourth, ahead of his points-leading team-mate Mitch Evans, Sims, Jenzer's Nico Muller and ART's Valtteri Bottas. Nigel Melker (Mucke) and Rio Haryanto (Manor) were next up, but will slump down the order due to their penalties.

Pos  Driver                  Team       Time       Gap
 1.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs     Manor      1m51.190s
 2.  James Calado            ART        1m51.576s  + 0.386s
 3.  Lewis Williamson        MW Arden   1m51.600s  + 0.410s
 4.  Mitch Evans             MW Arden   1m51.790s  + 0.600s
 5.  Alexander Sims          Status     1m51.847s  + 0.657s
 6.  Nico Muller             Jenzer     1m51.889s  + 0.699s
 7.  Valtteri Bottas         ART        1m51.921s  + 0.731s
 8.  Nigel Melker            RSC Mucke  1m51.927s  + 0.737s
 9.  Rio Haryanto            Manor      1m51.932s  + 0.742s
10.  Tom Dillmann            Addax      1m51.992s  + 0.802s
11.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Status     1m52.252s  + 1.062s
12.  Michael Christensen     RSC Mucke  1m52.319s  + 1.129s
13.  Gabby Chaves            Addax      1m52.371s  + 1.181s
14.  Aaro Vainio             Tech 1     1m52.439s  + 1.249s
15.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Tech 1     1m52.445s  + 1.255s
16.  Matias Laine            Manor      1m52.450s  + 1.260s
17.  Simon Trummer           MW Arden   1m52.504s  + 1.314s
18.  Maxim Zimin             Jenzer     1m52.633s  + 1.443s
19.  Nick Yelloly            Atech      1m52.678s  + 1.488s
20.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Jenzer     1m52.741s  + 1.551s
21.  Ivan Lukashevich        Status     1m52.782s  + 1.592s
22.  Marlon Stockinger       Atech      1m52.826s  + 1.636s
23.  Daniel Morad            Carlin     1m52.855s  + 1.665s
24.  Luciano Bacheta         RSC Mucke  1m52.856s  + 1.666s
25.  Dean Smith              Addax      1m52.936s  + 1.746s
26.  Pedro Nunes             ART        1m52.943s  + 1.753s
27.  Thomas Hylkema          Tech 1     1m54.018s  + 2.828s
28.  Zoel Amberg             Atech      1m54.049s  + 2.859s
29.  Leonardo Cordeiro       Carlin     1m54.789s  + 3.599s
30.  Conor Daly              Carlin     1m54.835s  + 3.645s