Series leader Esteban Gutiérrez crushed his GP3 opposition this morning to claim pole position for Race 1 at Silverstone Circuit. The ART driver set his fastest time of 1:51.451 in the closing minutes of the 30 minute session, over half a second quicker than his nearest rival around the newly revamped Northamptonshire track.
Gutiérrez put in the perfect lap leaving the rest of the thirty young racers furiously trying to better the Mexican’s time but to no avail. The top ten drivers were eventually separated by just one second when the chequered flag dropped.
Despite the early morning start, temperatures were soaring during this morning’s free practice session and times rapidly dropped. Manor Racing continued its strong showing from yesterday and British driver Adrian Quaife-Hobbs topped the first half of the session along with Valencia race winner Nico Müller and Status GP’s Daniel Morad.
Tech 1 Racing’s Doru Sechelariu also put in an impressive performance at point posting the second fastest time, but the young Romanian was unable to hols on when everyone switched to new rubber with ten minutes left.
As the session came to a close Gutiérrez and Quaife-Hobbs swapped fastest lap times until the ART driver put in his unbeatable flying lap. Rio Haryanto finished the qualifying session in a strong second spot reaffirming Manor Racing’s top form this weekend.
Müller took third ahead of Quaife- Hobbs and RSC Mucke Motorsport’s Tobias Hegewald claimed fifth spot – his highest qualifying spot to date.
Gutiérrez’s teammate Alexander Rossi also put in his best result of the season in sixth, as did Status GP’s Daniel Morad in seventh. Morad’s teammate Robert Wickens improved in the second half of the session to eighth, although the Canadian will lose ten spots tomorrow for a penalty picked up in Valencia. Rounding out the top ten were James Jakes putting the third Manor car in the top ten, and Carlin’s Dean Smith.
The action continues this afternoon at 16:20
1 2 E. GUTIERREZ ART Grand Prix 1:51.451 14
2 8 R. HARYANTO Manor Racing 1:52.040 16 0.589
3 25 N. MULLER Jenzer Motorsport 1:52.089 16 0.638
4 9 A. QUAIFE-HOBBS Manor Racing 1:52.112 15 0.661
5 12 T. HEGEWALD RSC Muecke Motorsport 1:52.152 15 0.701
6 1 A. ROSSI ART Grand Prix 1:52.188 15 0.737
7 6 D. MORAD Status Grand Prix 1:52.306 14 0.855
8 4 R. WICKENS Status Grand Prix 1:52.312 15 0.861
9 7 J. JAKES Manor Racing 1:52.316 15 0.865
10 15 D. SMITH Carlin 1:52.511 14 1.060
GP3
;)
