Japan's Daisuke Nakajima claimed pole position this afternoon at Silverstone in qualifying for the 16th round of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series. The Raikkonen Robertson racer beat Britain's Max Chilton to top spot by the narrowest possible margin - just one-thousandth of a second. It is Nakajima's first British F3 pole.

"I can't believe it," said Nakajima after becoming the seventh different British F3 pole-sitter of the season. "I was P9 in first qualifying and we only changed the car very slightly between sessions. But the car was good and I pushed very hard, and here I am on pole."

Championship leader and round 15 pole man Daniel Ricciardo will start from fourth on the grid, sandwiched by the Hitech cars of Renger van der Zande and Walter Grubmuller.

T-Sport's Gabriel Dias was again the quickest of the National class runners, this time 0.6s ahead of Fortec man Daniel McKenzie.

Provisional round 16 qualifying time

1  INT  Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 15.090s

2  INT  Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.091s

3  INT  Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 15.216s

4  INT  Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.252s

5  INT  Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 15.393s

6  INT  Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.458s

7  INT  Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.503s

8  INT  Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 15.537s

9  INT  Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 15.627s

10  INT  Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.735s

11  INT  Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, 1m 15.190s

12  NAT  Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1m 16.194s

13  INT  Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1m 16.351s

14  INT  Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, 1m 16.493s

15  INT  Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 16.512s

16  NAT  Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1m 16.839s

17  INT  Stephane Richelmi/MON,  Barazi Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 16.999s

18  INT  Kevin Chen/TPE,  RR Dallara-Mercedes, 1m 17.438s

19  NAT  Michele Faccin/ITA, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 1m 18.276s

20  NAT  Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 1m 18.463s

21  NAT  Adil Hermanto/INA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 1m 18.577s

22  NAT  Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara

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