Pascal Wehrlein secured pole position for the Formula 3 Feature Race at the Norisring this morning.
The Mücke Motorsport racer topped the timings with a best lap of 49.1s around the 2.3 km circuit, earning a 0.020s advantage over Grand Prix de Pau winner Raffaele Marciello.
It was an impressive feat for the rookie to nab pole position on his first visit to the East German track.
Indeed for all the drivers, the circuit presented was vaguely new. Track break-up last night ensured a new layer of tarmac coated the entry into the turn 2/3 chicane, presenting an additional challenge for the field.
One driver to be caught out was Will Buller. The Carlin driver lost the rear end of his Volkswagen-powered machine toward the tail end of the session, but not before setting the 3rd best time.
Prema Powerteam’s Daniel Juncadella fills out row two alongside the Englishman.
Pietro Fantin proved the fastest of the British F3 contingent with a run to 5th. The Brazilian enjoyed a one-tenth advantage over Emil Bernstorff (ma-con, 6th), while Felix Serralles and Pipo Derani made it an all-Fortec fourth row.
Michael Lewis made it three Prema Powerteam cars in the top ten, while Hannes van Asseldonk placed his Fortec- Mercedes in an encouraging 10th spot.
It was not the best of days for the British F3 Series title contenders. Current points leader Jazeman Jaafar could do no better than 13th place in his Carlin-Volkswagen; however that was still some four places higher than challenger Jack Harvey.
Of those chasing the silverware, Sainz Jr fared the best – the Spaniard ended the session in 11th position, giving him the inside of row six.
Spike Goddard headed the National Class pairing, although that still left the Australian a distant 27th overall.
The top positions are slightly re-arranged for race one; with Marciello on pole form Wehrlein, Juncadella and Buller.
As with the race three times, Fantin was the quickest of the British F3 drivers, ahead of Bernstorff, Sainz Jr, van Asseldonk, Derani and Lewis.
2012 European F3 Championship (Rd 5) Qualifying Race 1 (also British F3 (Rd 4) & F3 Euro Series (Rd 5)) Pos Driver Team Time / Gap 1. Raffaele Marciello Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.254 2. Pascal Wehrlein Mücke Motorsport-Mercedes 49.271 3. Daniel Juncadella Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.273 4. William Buller Carlin-Volkswagen 49.327 5. Pietro Fantin Carlin-Volkswagen 49.376 6. Emil Bernstorff ma-con-Volkswagen 49.500 7. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin-Volkswagen 49.567 8. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec-Mercedes 49.571 9. Pipo Derani Fortec-Mercedes 49.578 10. Michael Lewis Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.580 11. Felix Serralles Fortec-Mercedes 49.582 12. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen 49.631 13. Alex Lynn Fortec-Mercedes 49.684 14. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 49.727 15. Harry Tincknell Carlin-Volkswagen 49.743 16. Sven Muller Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.746 17. Tom Blomqvist ma-con-Volkswagen 49.758 18. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller-Mercedes 49.819 19. Fahmi Ilyas Double R-Mercedes 49.866 20. Geoff Uhrhane Double R-Mercedes 49.889 21. Nick McBride Threebond with T-Sport-Nissan 49.922 22. Felix Rosenqvist Mücke Motorsport-Mercedes 49.959 23. Lucas Wolf URD Rennsport-Mercedes 50.114 24. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller-Mercedes 50.174 25. Luis Sa Silva Angola Racing-Mercedes 50.318 26. Philip Ellis GU Racing-Mercedes 50.599 27. Spike Goddard T-Sport-Mugen-Honda 51.506 28. Duvashen Padayachee Double R-Mugen Honda 51.912
Bold = British F3
Italics = British F3 National Class
2012 European F3 Championship (Rd 5) Qualifying Race 3 (also British F3 (Rd 4) & F3 Euro Series (Rd 5) Pos Driver Team Time / Gap 1. Pascal Wehrlein Mücke Motorsport-Mercedes 49.100 2. Raffaele Marciello Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.120 3. William Buller Carlin-Volkswagen 49.238 4. Daniel Juncadella Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.262 5. Pietro Fantin Carlin-Volkswagen 49.328 6. Emil Bernstorff ma-con-Volkswagen 49.493 7. Felix Serralles Fortec-Mercedes 49.494 8. Pipo Derani Fortec-Mercedes 49.501 9. Michael Lewis Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.506 10. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec-Mercedes 49.522 11. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin-Volkswagen 49.559 12. Tom Blomqvist ma-con-Volkswagen 49.571 13. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen 49.613 14. Alex Lynn Fortec-Mercedes 49.664 15. Harry Tincknell Carlin-Volkswagen 49.687 16. Sven Muller Prema Powerteam-Mercedes 49.694 17. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 49.715 18. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller-Mercedes 49.778 19. Geoff Uhrhane Double R-Mercedes 49.817 20. Fahmi Ilyas Double R-Mercedes 49.834 21. Felix Rosenqvist Mücke Motorsport-Mercedes 49.864 22. Nick McBride Threebond with T-Sport-Nissan 49.869 23. Luis Sa Silva Angola Racing-Mercedes 49.901 24. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller-Mercedes 50.071 25. Lucas Wolf URD Rennsport-Mercedes 50.074 26. Philip Ellis GU Racing-Mercedes 50.346 27. Spike Goddard T-Sport-Mugen-Honda 51.434 28. Duvashen Padayachee Double R-Mugen Honda 51.805
Bold = British F3
Italics = British F3 National Class
