F1Weekly podcast # 598

F1WEEKLY PODCAST NUMBER 598

The host continues his travels in the Deep South and in GP3 Evans and Laine lock out front row in Spa

MW Arden’s teammates Mitch Evans and Matias Laine quickest in qualifying

Series leader Mitch Evans made the best possible start to his weekend by claiming the vital four points on offer for pole position for Round 7 of the GP3 Series 2012. His teammate Laine will start alongside the New Zealander on the front row, with Lotus GP’s Daniel Abt in third. Evans pole laptime of 2:10.513 was a new pole record for the circuit.

After the miserable conditions for Friday Free Practice, sunshine returned to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, for a very fresh qualifying session with temperatures only reaching 11 degrees. Robert Cregan, Laine and David Fumanelli were first onto the circuit as the 26 drivers were eager to drive the legendary circuit in the dry.

After ten minutes it was Abt controlling the 30 minute qualifying session, ahead of Evans and Fumanelli. Positions had been changing at the top frequently with Aaro Vainio and Antonio Felix Da Costa battling it out with Abt for P1. Lewis Williamson was a man on the move, jumping up to third position with 12 minutes remaining as the drivers came into the pits to change their Pirelli tyres, ready for the fight for pole.

Abt improved on his best laptime by 0.140s over Evans to further enhance his lead at the top of the standings as the time ticked down on the clock. However with two minutes to go, Evans set a flier to grab P1, with Conor Daly and Felix Da Costa recording times in the top four. Finn Laine hadn’t finished yet and set his best time to join his teammate on the front row to achieve his best qualifying position of the season with second. Abt caught traffic on his final attempt but his best efforts were enough to move him back into P3.

The final ten was Evans, Laine, Abt, Felix Da Costa, Daly, Williamson, Vainio, Giovanni Venturini, Alex Fontana amd Tio Ellinas.

 [audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/08-31-12f1weekly598.mp3]