Just as he was at the Nurburgring in Germany a fortnight ago, Kevin Magnussen was the class of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series qualifying field at Paul Ricard in France this morning.Carlin’s Danish driver set not only the best time of the session – 2m 00.426s, half a second quicker than he went in testing yesterday – but his second-best time of 2m 00.528s was a tenth up on the best that his closest rival, championship leader Felipe Nasr, could achieve. His stellar performance earns the Volkswagen-powered driver pole position for this afternoon’s Round 16 and also tomorrow’s Round 18.Magnussen, whose hopes of twin race wins in Germany were dashed by mechanical problems, is taking nothing for granted: “I have been in this situation before; two poles is great but I still have to win the races. There were no problems for me today and I am trying not to think about it, and to concentrate on my driving.”Nasr was cool, calm and collected post-qualifying, and happy enough with a front-row start slot on a circuit which he says provides plenty of opportunity for passing. “I stopped before the end of the session to save my tyres,” said the Brazilian, “and I am happy with my position on the grid.”Hitech’s increasingly rapid Portuguese signing Antonio Felix da Costa was a tenth off Nasr’s pace for third best time overall, ahead of a trio of Carlin men: Carlos Huertas, Jack Harvey and Rupert Svendsen-Cook. Fifth was a qualifying best for Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver Harvey. “I think I could have gone quicker, because I hit traffic in the final sector on my best lap,” said the top-placed Brit. “But overall I am pleased; I have had good pace in the last couple of events but have had problems in qualifying…”Fortec’s William Buller was the top-placed Mercedes-powered runner in eighth, two slots ahead of his team-mate Lucas Foresti.New International class recruit Bart Hylkema continued to improve his pace, ending the session 13th overall, just four-hundredths off the pace of his more experienced T-Sport team-mate Menasheh Idafar. Double R men Scott Pye and Pipo Derani were 14th and 17th respectively, sandwiching the cars of Fahmi Ilyas (Fortec) and Hywel Lloyd (SVR).

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