Vergne takes pole in Hockenheim

Jean-Eric Vergne confirmed his dominant pace in this morning's free practice session to take pole for both rounds 10 and 12 of the Cooper Tires British F3 Series in Hockenheim this afternoon. The Carlin racer was fourth tenths ahead of his nearest rival to take his fifth and sixth pole positions of the season. Adriano Buzaid was also on the pace having set the third fastest time. Jazeman Jaafar qualified in a strong seventh place just ahead of team mate Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Lucas Foresti was 11th quickest just ahead of James Calado.

Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) Carlin Dallara Volkswagen Credit: British F3

Despite intermittent showers, the track stayed dry for the 30 minute qualifying session at Hockenheim this afternoon. The Carlin drivers were the first out of the pit lane and it was Vergne who set the first time to beat. Adriano Buzaid also set the early pace and was in provisional pole with ten minutes of the session gone. Vergne soon picked up the pace though - the Red Bull Junior set the fastest time of all in the second and third sectors to snatch P1 from his Brazilian team mate.

With half of the session gone, it was time to switch to new rubber. Vergne's lap was still the time to beat; the Red Bull junior was provisional pole by nearly half a second. Buzaid was second, with both Jaafar and Calado in the top ten in eighth and ninth respectively. Just as the drivers started their flying laps on news tyres, however, the session was disrupted by a red flag with eight minutes remaining on the clock. As qualifying recommenced, the Carlin garage was full of action. Provisional pole sitter Vergne was forced to return to the pits after one flying lap with a mechanical issue and was unable to continue.

In the final minutes Buzaid put in a stunning lap to close the gap to Vergne to 0.386 seconds and confirm his second place. However, the Brazilian later saw his time deleted as officials deemed him to have cut the first corner on his flying lap. Buzaid wasn't the only driver to see his best time deleted, all of the F3 drivers lost at least one lap, with Calado also losing his quickest laps which put him back to 12th place, just behind Lucas Foresti. Jaafar made huge leaps forward from free practice and set the seventh fastest time, just ahead of team mate Svendsen-Cook who put in another solid performance in his rookie season.

Despite a flurry of action on the track, no-one was able to challenge Vergne's best times, and the Frenchman will line up at the head of the grid for both the first and third races this weekend.

Pole sitter Vergne said, "The car was very good today, we had a great set-up and I was able to push and put in four really good laps. Unfortunately I had to miss the last part of the session which was a pity because I think we could have been even quicker. We're confident that we won't have a problem tomorrow and we're in the best possible shape now for the races."

Trevor Carlin added, "Hockenheim isn't one of our strongest tracks so I think today's results are quite positive for us. Jean-Eric did a great job again to take two poles, he needs to focus hard now and translate that into maximum points. It's great to see Adriano back at the top of the timesheets where he belongs as well and I think we'll see some strong performances from him this weekend. A lot of the drivers saw their quickest time deleted, but rules are rules and they will have to make up for that with some great racing."

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