Championship leader Alex Lynn completes front row
Saturday 5 July 2014 16:51, UK
Swedish driver Jimmy Eriksson achieved his maiden pole in GP3 with a best laptime of 2:05.322 in a difficult qualifying session in the wet. Series leader Alex Lynn will join the Koiranen GP driver on the front row with Marvin Kirchhofer in third position.
The thirty minute qualifying session got underway with fine drizzle after heavy rain had fallen overnight. The 27 cars fed onto the Silverstone circuit but the session was red flagged due to an incident between the two newcomers Mitchell Gilbert and Sebastian Balthasar. The clock was stopped with 26 minutes remaining.
Once Gilbert’s Trident machine was returned to the pitlane, the session resumed. As the drivers got to grips with the conditions and found the limits, there were several spinners with Riccardo Agostini having a small moment at Turn Seven and Eriksson at Turn Two. The Swede was first to set a competitive time before Alex Lynn bettered his time. Matheo Tuscher and Santiago Urrutia also spun but were able to continue as the times began to improve.
Fastest in Practice yesterday was Nick Yelloly and the Status Grand Prix driver grabbed P1, with Lynn improving but only to P2. Yelloly’s teammate Richie Stanaway produced a good lap to demote Lynn to third as the session hit the midway point.
The conditions continued to prove challenging with the changing conditions making it very tricky for the drivers. Stanaway went one better to sneak into P1 above his teammate by a tenth of a second posting the fastest middle sector. But Lynn who had patiently sat in the pits was about to clock a blinding lap, setting sector one and two in purple on the timing screens and lapping a second quicker than Stanaway. His teammate Emil Bernstorff soon followed suit into second before ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhofer shot into P2.
Arden International’s Jann Mardenborough was on his best lap and managed to save his car from heading into a spin as he crossed the start/finish line to move up to fourth. With one minute remaining Eriksson lit the timing screens purple in sector two and three to snatch provisional pole.
At the chequered flag Eriksson held on for his debut pole in the category ahead of Lynn, Kirchhofer and Dino Zamparelli. Mardenborough recorded his personal best qualifying of fifth in front of Bernstorff, Stanaway, Yelloly, Riccardo Agostini and Alfonso Celis. Jr. Five British drivers will start from the top ten in their home race.
The points for pole means Eriksson has now closed the margin in the Drivers’ Standings to just ten points to the current leader Lynn.
GP3 Qualifying – Great Britain
1) Jimmy Eriksson (SWE) – Koiranen GP – 2:05.322
2) Alex Lynn (GBR) – Carlin - +0.316
3) Marvin Kirchofer (GER) – ART Grand Prix - +1.063
4) Dino Zamparelli (GBR) – ART Grand Prix - +1.070
5) Jann Mardenborough (GBR) – Arden International - +1.108
6) Emil Bernstorff (GBR) – Carlin - +1.347
7) Richie Stanaway (NZL) – Status GP - +1.382
8) Nick Yelloly (GBR) – Status GP - +1.483
9) Ricciardo Agostini – Hilmer Motorsport - +1.880
10) Alfonso Celis JR (MEX) – Status GP - +1.969
Selected others
16) Dean Stoneman (GBR) – Marussia Manor Racing - +2.291
21) Ryan Cullen (GBR) – Marussia Manor Racing - +4.248
