Thursday, September 18, 2008

Turvey takes third straight F3 pole

Turvey takes third straight F3 pole

Oliver Turvey clinched his third consecutive British Formula 3 pole position for the first race at Silverstone tomorrow.

The Carlin Motorsport driver picked up where he left off at Spa-Francorchamps two weeks ago and has now topped seven of the last eight sessions in the championship.

"It was good to continue the form we had a Spa and be quickest in practice and then quickest in first qualifying," said Turvey. "Hopefully we can continue to be at the front for the rest of the weekend.

"I didn't have any lap times on my dash, so it was quite relaxing. I knew from my pit board that I was P1 for the majority of the session, and as long as that didn't change I just kept driving as quick as I could."

All the front runners left it until half way through the 30-minute session to venture out of the pits, and Turvey went straight to the top of the times. He then had to improve his best lap twice to see off challenges from Marcus Ericsson and Brendon Hartley.

Hartley's best effort was good enough for the front row, just over a tenth shy of Turvey, with Ericsson heading the second row alongside the session's early pace setter John Martin.

Championship leaders Jaime Alguersuari and Sergio Perez will line up on the third row of the grid, ahead of Atte Mustonen and Max Chilton.

Nick Tandy was the best of the Mygales in ninth, with Sam Abay completing the top ten for Carlin.

Stefan Wilson leads the National Class runners in 17th place overall, just a tenth ahead of his Fluid Motorsport teammate Jay Bridger.

Clemente Faria Jr is making his British F3 debut this weekend for Raikkonen Robertson Racing. The reigning South American F3 champion qualified 18th for tomorrow's first race.

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap 1. Oliver Turvey Carlin D/M 1:15.000 2. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M 1:15.131 +0.131 3. Marcus Ericsson Fortec D/M 1:15.302 +0.302 4. John Martin Double R D/M 1:15.365 +0.365 5. Jaime Alguersuaru Carlin D/M 1:15.376 +0.376 6. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H 1:15.549 +0.549 7. Atte Mustonen Double R D/M 1:15.560 +0.560 8. Max Chilton Hitech D/M 1:15.577 +0.577 9. Nick Tandy JTR M/M 1:15.614 +0.614 10. Sam Abay Carlin D/M 1:15.660 +0.660 11. Philip Major Fortec D/M 1:15.714 +0.714 12. Henry Arundel Double R D/M 1:15.735 +0.735 13. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 1:16.213 +1.213 14. Oliver Oakes Eurotek D/M 1:16.335 +1.335 15. Alastair Jackson Ultiamte M/M 1:16.409 +1.409 16. Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate M/M 1:16.439 +1.439 17. Stefan Wilson Fluid (N) D/H 1:16.532 +1.532 18. Clemente Faria Jr Double R D/M 1:16.659 +1.659 19. Jay Bridger Fluid (N) D/H 1:16.689 +1.689 20. Michael Devaney Ultimate M/M 1:16.913 +1.913 21. Hywel Lloyd CF (N) D/H 1:17.027 +2.027 22. Steven Guerreri T-Sport (N) D/H 1:17.160 +2.160 23. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H 1:17.226 +2.226 24. Craig Reiff Nexa (N) D/H 1:17.740 +2.740 25. Kristjan Einar Carlin (N) D/H 1:18.134 +3.134 26. Jonathan Legris Litespeed (N) D/H no time

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