Kvyat flies to maiden pole in Monza

Kvyat flies to maiden pole in Monza—
 
MW Arden duo of Daniil Kvyat and Robert Visoiu lock-out the front row—
 
MW Arden’s Daniil Kvyat set a laptime of 1:36.933 to achieve his debut pole in the category and finish over half a second quicker over his nearest rival, teammate Robert Visoiu. The Romanian driver will join Kvyat on the front row in his best qualifying of the season with title contender Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) heading the second row in P3. Kvyat’s flier was over seven seconds faster than the 2012 pole time set with the previous generation car.
 
The 30 minute session was filled with anticipation with four vital points up for grabs in the chase for the elusive GP3 crown. Another hot day greeted the 27 drivers as they lined up, eager to be in contention for pole position. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Williamson led the way with the Spaniard first to lap in the 1m37’s early on.
 
Kvyat demoted his teammate to take provisional pole, again showing good pace after topping yesterday’s Free Practice session. At the midway point, most drivers returned to the pits for new rubber and make set-up changes. The Russian driver was busy lighting up the timing screen as he lapped in the 1m36’s to set the target to his competitors by a large margin of half a second.
 
Ellinas was one of the big movers in the final minutes, shooting up to P3 behind Kvyat and Visoiu. Carlin’s Nick Yelloly in P5 was also trying to improve but ran wide over the kerbs which sent his car into a spin and a premature halt to his session. His teammate Alexander Sims also had an excursion into the gravel, whilst home favourite David Fumanelli (Trident) stopped at Turn 2 which was covered by yellow flags.
 
At the chequered flag, Kvyat enjoyed his maiden pole with his teammate Visoiu in tow. Ellinas can concentrate on reclaiming his lead in the GP3 title proceedings with a strong qualifying in third ahead of Sims, Yelloly, Sainz, Conor Daly, Series leader Facu Regalia, Kevin Korjus and Williamson.
 
Action is guaranteed in Race 1, which starts at 17.20 CET later today as the quest for the GP3 title rises another notch…
 
 
Qualifying
 
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Daniil Kvyat
MW Arden
1:36.933
14
2.
Robert Visoiu
MW Arden
1:37.444
15
3.
Tio Ellinas
Marussia Manor Racing
1:37.526
14
4.
Alexander Sims
Carlin
1:37.580
13
5.
Nick Yelloly
Carlin
1:37.602
12
6.
Carlos Sainz
MW Arden
1:37.619
15
7.
Conor Daly
ART Grand Prix
1:37.708
11
8.
Facu Regalia
ART Grand Prix
1:37.715
11
9.
Kevin Korjus
Koiranen GP
1:37.723
13
10.
Lewis Williamson
Bamboo Engineering
1:37.942
12
11.
Dino Zamparelli
Marussia Manor Racing
1:37.991
14
12.
Jack Harvey
ART Grand Prix
1:38.111
11
13.
Patric Niederhauser
Jenzer Motorsport
1:38.113
13
14.
Adderly Fong
Status Grand Prix
1:38.141
14
15.
Patrick Kujala
Koiranen GP
1:38.388
13
16.
Giovanni Venturini
Trident
1:38.419
15
17.
Melville McKee
Bamboo Engineering
1:38.450
12
18.
Luis Sa Silva
Carlin
1:38.495
14
19.
Alex Fontana
Jenzer Motorsport
1:38.522
12
20.
David Fumanelli
Trident
1:38.566
12
21.
Aaro Vainio*
Koiranen GP
1:38.606
13
22.
Jimmy Eriksson
Status Grand Prix
1:38.615
14
23.
Josh Webster
Status Grand Prix
1:38.660
13
24.
Emanuele Zonzini
Trident
1:38.934
14
25.
Ryan Cullen
Marussia Manor Racing
1:39.312
13
26.
Samin Gomez
Jenzer Motorsport
1:39.474
13
27.
Carmen Jorda**
Bamboo Engineering
1:40.218
14
 
 
 
 
 
*Vainio has a 5 place grid penalty following an incident in Spa Race 2.
**Jorda has a 10 place grid penalty following Free Practice in Monza