Just a tenth of a second separated the top three in Germany
Saturday 19 July 2014 11:27, UK
Marvin Kirchhofer took his maiden GP3 pole position in front of his home fans, edging out Alex Lynn and Nick Yelloly as just a tenth of a second separated the top three.
Hot temperatures again greeted the 27 drivers in the thirty minute qualifying session. Jimmy Eriksson was first to set the pace followed by Patrick Kujala and debutant Mitchell Gilbert.
Kirchhofer was the first to drop below the 90 second mark, lapping almost half a second quicker than his nearest rival, whilst his ART Grand Prix teammate Dino Zamparelli lit the timing screen purple in the first two sectors but had to back off in the final sector due to a yellow flag when Alfonso Celis Jr spun.
Carlin’s Lynn then flew to the head of the timings, with Zamparelli demoting Kirchhofer to third. The Red Bull Junior driver then bettered his own personal best to increase his advantage over the pack and looked set to score a third pole position of the season.
But Kirchhofer had his own plan and was not to be out done in front of his army of passionate fans, clocking the quickest laptime of the session with a 1:28.647 which was a mere 0.059s faster than Lynn. Yelloly also improved to third as the chequered flag was waved to record his best qualifying position of the 2014 season.
Emil Bernstorff completed the second row, Eriksson qualified in P5, in front of Gilbert – the Australian rookie in only his second race weekend producing a fine effort in sixth for Trident. Zamparelli, Richie Stanaway, Matheo Tuscher and Dean Stoneman rounded out of the top ten.
GP3 Qualifying – Germany
1) Marvin Kirchhofer (GER) – ART – 1:28.647
2) Alex Lynn (GBR) – Carlin - +0.059
3) Nick Yelloly (GBR) – Status GP - +0.102
4) Emil Bernstorff (GBR) – Carlin - +0.263
5) Jimmy Eriksson (SWE) – Koiranen GP - +0.302
6) Mitchell Gilbert (AUS) – Trident - +0.348
7) Dino Zamparelli (GBR) – ART - +0.486
8) Richie Stanaway (NZL) – Status GP - +0.558
9) Matheo Tusher (SUI) – Jenzer - +0.565
10) Dean Stoneman (GBR) – Marussia Manor Racing - +0.600
Selected others
14) Jann Mardenborough (GBR) – Arden - +0.753
22) Ryan Cullen (GBR) – Marussia Manor Racing - +1.533
