Gutiérrez takes pole at Silverstone

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.

Esteban Gutierrez, (MEX, ART Grand Prix). Credit: Drew Gibson/GP3 Media

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 with Race 2.

Full qualifying results:

Pos No  Driver            Team                   Time     Laps Gap

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
11  11  R. VAN DER ZANDE  RSC Muecke Motorsport  1:52.565  14  1.114
12  19  M. BORTOLOTTI     Addax Team             1:52.580  16  1.129
13  28  D. JUNCADELLA     Tech 1 Racing          1:52.581  14  1.130
14  20  M. CHRISTENSEN    MW Arden               1:52.614  15  1.163
15  27  S. COLETTI        Tech 1 Racing          1:52.625  13  1.174
16  30  O. OAKES          Atech CRS GP           1:52.636  16  1.185
17  24  S. TRUMMER        Jenzer Motorsport      1:52.643  15  1.192
18  23  P. VARHAUG        Jenzer Motorsport      1:52.643  15  1.192
19  26  D. SECHELARIU     Tech 1 Racing          1:52.692  14  1.241
20  14  J. NEWGARDEN      Carlin                 1:52.802  13  1.351
21  18  P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ  Addax Team             1:52.814  13  1.363
22  17  F. GUIMARAES      Addax Team             1:52.904  15  1.453
23  10  N. MELKER         RSC Muecke Motorsport  1:52.906  14  1.455
24  29  R. MERHI          Atech CRS GP           1:53.072  15  1.621
25  21  M. MONRAS         MW Arden               1:53.197  13  1.746
26  16  L. FORESTI        Carlin                 1:53.256  13  1.805
27  31  V. GHIRELLI       Atech CRS GP           1:53.456  15  2.005
28   3  P. NUNES          ART Grand Prix         1:53.590  14  2.139
29  22  L. CORDEIRO       MW Arden               1:53.697  14  2.246
30   5  I. LUKASHEVICH    Status Grand Prix      1:54.044  15  2.593

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