Daly claims maiden GP3 pole position in Valencia qualifying

Photo: Malcolm Griffiths/GP3 Media Service

Conor Daly secured his first ever GP3 pole position in qualifying for the standalone event at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

The American went top of the timesheets with a time of 1m22.329s shortly before Adderly Fong spun and stopped, causing a red flag with 1m55s left on the clock.

Many drivers went for a final attempt after the restart, but Daly’s time was not troubled. He finished up two tenths clear of Daniil Kvyat, who held top spot early on as the quickest of those to set a representative time before Ryan Cullen spun into the gravel exiting the first corner, bringing out the first red flag.

Nick Yelloly had top spot before Kvyat and Daly bettered him in the final minutes, relegating him to third ahead of Facu Regalia and Aaro Vainio, who had also both spent time on top during the second half of the session.

Vainio will be joined on the third row by Koiranen team-mate and practice pace-setter Kevin Korjus. Championship leader Tio Ellinas recovered from a slide into the gravel to get up into P2 while Regalia was on top before falling back to seventh where he will be joined on the fourth row by Marussia Manor team-mate Dino Zamparelli.

Carlos Sainz sat all the way down in 19th place, one second off the pace, when the session was red-flagged for the second time, but rescued himself up to ninth with his last effort. MW Arden team-mate Robert Visoiu completed the top ten.

Left outside the top ten in a close session were Jack Harvey, David Fumanelli, Lewis Williamson, Melville McKee and Giovanni Venturini, while Jenzer pair Patric Niederhauser and Alex Fontana finished a disappointing 16th and 17th respectively, even though they were both within seventh tenths of pole, such was the closeness of the session.

Qualifying results