Round 16 Qualifying - Spa Francorchamps, BELGIUM
Oliver Turvey added a second pole position to his British F3 CV, qualifying at the front of the 27 car field for Round 16 of the 2008 British F3 International Series at Spa. Turvey completed a lap of the 7km circuit in 2m14.101, 1.2 seconds quicker than his Round 15 pole time and 0.461 second ahead of Marcus Ericsson in 2nd place. Australian Sam Abay was an impressive 3rd just ahead of New Zealander Brendon Hartley. Jay Bridger also scored his second National Class pole position of the weekend, less than 0.1 seconds ahead of Steven Guerrero and Stefan Wilson.
With the temperature at Spa 10 degrees lower than yesterdays qualifying, the expectation was for quicker lap times as the first of the drivers went out for the 30-minute session. Championship leader Sergio Perez set the early provisional pole time with a 2m16.176 lap, three tenths quicker than Marcus Ericsson, John Martin and Atte Mustonen. Perez improved his time by a further three tenths on the next lap before returning to the pits along with Ericsson, Martin and Mustonen. As the session continued Perez continued to hold the top spot while Oliver Oakes and Nick Tandy posted the second fastest times in quick succession.
At the halfway point Ericsson, who had rejoined the track, went 0.5 seconds quicker than Perez to stake his claim to the top spot with a 2m15.271, which was 0.1 seconds quicker than Turvey's Round 15 pole time.
As the session entered the final 10 minutes the times continued to fall rapidly with John Martin and then Sam Abay posting the second fastest times of the session but then Sergio Perez became the first driver to post a sub 2m15s lap with a 2m14.955. Brendon Hartley then put in a 2m14.936 but his time at the top lasted no more than 30-seconds as first Sam Abay and then Oliver Turvey went quicker. Turvey then improved his time by a further two tenths on the next lap with a 2m14.101. Abay improved his time but stayed second but with less than eight minutes to go Ericsson moved ahead of the Australian to claim the front row position, with Nick Tandy improving to 4th to join Abay on the second row.
Yellow flags then came out at Pouhon (Turn 10) as John Martin's Dallara came off the track, effectively ending any further attempts by drivers to improve their lap times for the rest of the session.
Jay Bridger was 19th overall to claim his fifth National Class pole of the season with Steven Guerrero and Stefan Wilson just behind him on the grid.
Round 16 of the 2008 British F3 International Series will take place tomorrow (Saturday 2 August) at 13:00, with Round 15 due to start at 15:55 today (Friday 1 August).
Round 16 Qualifying: Results
1 - 17 - I - Oliver TURVEY - GBR - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.101 - 6 - - 188.02
2 - 8 - I - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.562 - 10 - 0.461 - 187.38
3 - 18 - I - Sam ABAY - AUS - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.599 - 7 - 0.498 - 187.33
4 - 3 - I - Brendon HARTLEY - NZL - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.690 - 8 - 0.589 - 187.20
5 - 28 - I - Nick TANDY - GBR - Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.932 - 7 - 0.831 - 186.86
6 - 9 - I - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - Dallara F308 Mugen Honda - 02:14.955 - 9 - 0.854 - 186.83
7 - 4 - I - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:14.955 - 9 - 0.854 - 186.83
8 - 26 - I - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.125 - 12 - 1.024 - 186.60
9 - 24 - I - John MARTIN - AUS - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.293 - 7 - 1.192 - 186.36
10 - 73 - INV - Daniel CAMPOS HULL - ESP - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.307 - 10 - 1.206 - 186.35
11 - 2 - I - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.355 - 12 - 1.254 - 186.28
12 - 6 - I - Henry ARUNDEL - GBR - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.737 - 13 - 1.636 - 185.75
13 - 16 - I - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.750 - 9 - 1.649 - 185.74
14 - 7 - I - Sebastian HOHENTHAL - SWE - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.920 - 9 - 1.819 - 185.50
15 - 14 - I - Phillip MAJOR - CAN - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:15.961 - 12 - 1.86 - 185.45
16 - 1 - I - Max CHILTON - GBR - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:16.168 - 12 - 2.067 - 185.17
17 - 11 - I - Alistair JACKSON - GBR - Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes HWA - 02:16.369 - 9 - 2.268 - 184.89
18 - 15 - I - Oliver OAKES - GBR - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:16.426 - 9 - 2.325 - 184.82
19 - 50 - N - Jay BRIDGER - GBR - Dallara F307 Mugen Honda - 02:16.555 - 10 - 2.454 - 184.64
20 - 53 - N - Steven GUERRERO - COL - Dallara F307 Mugen Honda - 02:16.646 - 9 - 2.545 - 184.52
21 - 51 - N - Stefan WILSON - GBR - Dallara F306 Mugen Honda - 02:16.713 - 11 - 2.612 - 184.43
22 - 12 - I - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes HWA - 02:17.316 - 10 - 3.215 - 183.62
23 - 57 - N - Salman AL KHALIFA - BHR - Dallara F307 Mugen Honda - 02:17.447 - 11 - 3.346 - 183.44
24 - 74 - INV - Basil SHAABAN - LIB - Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA - 02:17.765 - 11 - 3.664 - 183.02
25 - 52 - N - Hywel LLOYD - GBR - Dallara F306 Mugen Honda - 02:17.772 - 12 - 3.671 - 183.01
26 - 54 - N - Kristjan EINAR - ISL - Dallara F305 Mugen Honda - 02:18.696 - 10 - 4.595 - 181.79
27 - 55 - N - Craig REIFF - GER - Dallara F306 Mugen Honda - 02:20.036 - 13 - 5.935 - 180.05
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