Home News Matthieu Vaxiviere dominates Sunday FR3.5 qualifying at Silverstone

Matthieu Vaxiviere dominates Sunday FR3.5 qualifying at Silverstone

by Peter Allen
Matthieu Vaxiviere

Photo: Paul Davies Photography

Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed a crushing pole position for the second Formula Renault 3.5 race at Silverstone, beating championship rival Oliver Rowland by more than half a second.

Vaxiviere led the way after the first runs, with he and new Lotus team-mate Nick Yelloly in a league of their own at the head of the times.

After the usual mid-session lull, did not take long to reclaim the lead after Tom Dillmann and then Tio Ellinas had briefly moved ahead with around five minutes to go.

Vaxiviere then set three session-best sectors on his next lap to move seven tenths clear of the field and secure pole.

The closest anybody could get to that at the chequered flag was points leader Rowland, who had been down in 15th in the middle of the session after a massive lock-up at Village on just his second lap of the session.

He ended up 0.58 seconds behind Vaxiviere and ahead of Yelloly, though the series returnee will take a four-place grid drop for not respecting blue flags during race one.

Nicholas Latifi will therefore start third, his second best grid position of the season. Gustav Malja would have been promoted to fourth, but had his best time deleted over track limits, dropping him to 11th.

Pietro Fantin will therefore be fourth, with race one winner Tio Ellinas set to share row three ahead of?Dean Stoneman.

The demoted Yelloly will be alongside?Nyck de Vries on row four, with Egor Orudzhev ninth and Jazeman Jaafar 10th.

Qualifying results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1:39.828 11
2 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1:40.408 0.580 13
3 Nick Yelloly Lotus 1:40.559 0.731 12
4 Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 1:40.612 0.784 12
5 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1:40.656 0.828 13
6 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 1:40.699 0.871 13
7 Dean Stoneman DAMS 1:40.731 0.903 13
8 Nyck de Vries DAMS 1:40.743 0.915 14
9 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 1:40.820 0.992 13
10 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 1:40.877 1.049 14
11 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 1:40.898 1.070 14
12 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1:41.005 1.177 12
13 Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1:41.175 1.347 13
14 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 1:41.479 1.651 13
15 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1:41.676 1.848 14
16 Bruno Bonifacio International Draco Racing 1:41.804 1.976 14
17 Alfonso Celis AVF 1:41.958 2.130 10
18 Beitske Visser AVF 1:42.069 2.241 14
19 Philo Paz Armand Pons Racing 1:43.005 3.177 12
20 Will Bratt Pons Racing 1:43.538 3.710 13