Daly on pole in Valencia

Daly dashes to maiden pole in Valencia-

ART Grand Prix’s Conor Daly fastest in Spanish qualifying –

American Conor Daly was all smiles after securing his debut pole position in GP3 for Round 2 of the season in Valencia with a laptime of 1:22.329. The ART Grand Prix ace will be joined on the front row by MW Arden’s Daniil Kvyat and Carlin’s Nick Yelloly. 

The qualifying session commenced under clear blue skies as the temperatures soared over the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. As the majority of the drivers took to the track, there was an early stoppage to the session when Marussia Manor Racing’s Ryan Cullen had a spin into the gravel session which caused a brief red flag. At this point, Kvyat, Giovanni Venturini (Trident) and Robert Visoiu (MW Arden) led the way with various drivers yet to record a time. 

Once the session resumed, Koiranen GP’s Kevin Korjus shot to P2 until Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) demoted the Estonian a position. The Cypriot was charging hard and had a short excursion through the gravel. 

At the midway point of the 30 minute session, most drivers returned to the pitlane for a new set of rubber in the quest for pole position. ART Grand Prix’s Facu Regalia rose to the top of standings and looked on course to keep P1 until Yelloly snatched provisional pole away with just two and half minutes left on the clock. 

However, Daly and Kvyat had other ideas, and grabbed P1 and P2 as a second flag occurred when Status Grand Prix’s Adderly Fong stopped on the track. This left 1m55s remaining and once qualifying went “live” there was a mad rush out of the pitlane to complete a lap before the chequered flag was waved. Yelloly in P3 remained in the pits, as did Daly. Sainz improved on his previous best efforts to rise up the order to make it into the top ten on home soil. 

The session ended with Daly achieving his maiden pole position, in front of Kvyat, Yelloly, Regalia, and the Koiranen GP duo of Aaro Vainio and Kevin Korjus. Ellinas was P7, with his Marussia Manor Racing teammate Dino Zamparelli one place back. Sainz and Visoiu rounded out the top ten. The top 19 drivers were covered by just one second. 

Both Race 1 and 2 will take place tomorrow 16th June at 11.00 and 15.00 CET respectively.

Qualifying
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Conor Daly
ART Grand Prix
1:22.329
15
2.
Daniil Kvyat
MW Arden
1:22.536
16
3.
Nick Yelloly
Carlin
1:22.597
13
4.
Facu Regalia
ART Grand Prix
1:22.603
15
5.
Aaro Vainio
Koiranen GP
1:22.616
16
6.
Kevin Korjus
Koiranen GP
1:22.621
17
7.
Tio Ellinas
Marussia Manor Racing
1:22.761
12
8.
Dino Zamparelli
Marussia Manor Racing
1:22.861
13
9.
Carlos Sainz
MW Arden
1:22.891
16
10.
Robert Visoiu
MW Arden
1:22.893
17
11.
Jack Harvey
ART Grand Prix
1:22.925
15
12.
David Fumanelli
Trident
1:22.936
15
13.
Lewis Williamson
Bamboo Engineering
1:22.948
14
14.
Melville McKee
Bamboo Engineering
1:22.954
15
15.
Giovanni Venturini
Trident
1:22.993
16
16.
Patric Niederhauser
Jenzer Motorsport
1:23.000
16
17.
Alex Fontana
Jenzer Motorsport
1:23.019
18
18.
Adderly Fong
Status Grand Prix
1:23.054
12
19.
Patrick Kujala
Koiranen GP
1:23.294
15
20.
Eric Lichtenstein
Carlin
1:23.364
15
21.
Emanuele Zonzini
Trident
1:23.524
15
22.
Josh Webster
Status Grand Prix
1:23.559
17
23.
Luis Sa Silva
Carlin
1:23.878
15
24.
Samin Gomez
Jenzer Motorsport
1:24.322
18
25.
Jimmy Eriksson
Status Grand Prix
1:25.044
13
26.
Carmen Jorda
Bamboo Engineering
1:25.103
16
*Ryan Cullen – Marussia Manor Racing – outside of 110% qualifying time & issued with a 5 place grid penalty following incident in Barcelona Round 1