Jimmy Eriksson slashed Alex Lynn‘s advantage at the head of the GP3 standings as he beat the Red Bull Junior to pole position at a wet Silverstone.
Lynn had looked set for his third pole from as many rounds in GP3 after going a second clear at the top of the times with about five minutes left.
He was unable to improve his time after that however, and Eriksson capitalised to better Lynn by 0.316 seconds with one minute left. The Swede came into the weekend second in the standings, and the four bonus points for pole have cut his gap to Lynn to nine points.
Making use of the experience gained in his British F3 appearance at Silverstone six weeks ago that included wet running, Marvin Kirchhofer beat ART team-mate Dino Zamparelli to third by just 0.007s.
Jann Mardenborough took fifth with a lap that began with a session-best first sector but saw him lose time following a backed-off Lynn through Maggots and Becketts.
Emil Bernstorff was sixth while Status team-mates Richie Stanaway and Nick Yelloly ended up seventh and eighth having held first and second with five minutes left. Riccardo Agostini was ninth and the third Status driver Alfonso Celis tenth.
The session had a lengthy delay early on after apparent contact between the two series debutants Mitch Gilbert and Sebastian Balthasar. Balthasar lost his rear wing, while Gilbert’s Trident car suffered significant damage and appeared to have rolled over on the approach to Stowe.
Qualifying results
Pos | Driver? | Team | Time? | Gap | Laps? |
1 | Jimmy Eriksson | Koiranen GP | 2:05.322 | 12 | |
2 | Alex Lynn | Carlin | 2:05.638 | 0.316 | 10 |
3 | Marvin Kirchhofer | ART Grand Prix | 2:06.385 | 1.063 | 11 |
4 | Dino Zamparelli | ART Grand Prix | 2:06.392 | 1.070 | 12 |
5 | Jann Mardenborough | Arden International | 2:06.430 | 1.108 | 12 |
6 | Emil Bernstorff | Carlin | 2:06.669 | 1.347 | 12 |
7 | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 2:06.704 | 1.382 | 11 |
8 | Nick Yelloly | Status Grand Prix | 2:06.805 | 1.483 | 10 |
9 | Riccardo Agostini | Hilmer Motorsport | 2:07.202 | 1.880 | 11 |
10 | Alfonso Celis | Status Grand Prix | 2:07.291 | 1.969 | 11 |
11 | Robert Visoiu | Arden International | 2:07.293 | 1.971 | 12 |
12 | Patrick Kujala | Marussia Manor Racing | 2:07.417 | 2.095 | 11 |
13 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:07.490 | 2.168 | 12 |
14 | Alex Fontana | ART Grand Prix | 2:07.585 | 2.263 | 12 |
15 | Matheo Tuscher | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:07.601 | 2.279 | 11 |
16 | Dean Stoneman | Marussia Manor Racing | 2:07.613 | 2.291 | 12 |
17 | Roman de Beer | Trident | 2:07.753 | 2.431 | 11 |
18 | Luis Sa Silva | Carlin | 2:07.803 | 2.481 | 11 |
19 | Nelson Mason | Hilmer Motorsport | 2:08.233 | 2.911 | 12 |
20 | Patric Niederhauser | Arden International | 2:08.302 | 2.980 | 11 |
21 | Ryan Cullen | Marussia Manor Racing | 2:09.570 | 4.248 | 12 |
22 | Adderly Fong | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:09.647 | 4.325 | 11 |
23 | Santiago Urrutia | Koiranen GP | 2:09.968 | 4.646 | 12 |
24 | Victor Carbone | Trident | 2:11.380 | 6.058 | 11 |
25 | Carmen Jorda | Koiranen GP | 2:13.958 | 8.636 | 11 |
26 | Sebastian Balthasar | Hilmer Motorsport | No time | 1 | |
27 | Mitch Gilbert | Trident | No time | 1 |