GP3
Kirchhöfer blazes to maiden pole in Hockenheim
German rookie Marvin Kirchhöfer enjoyed his first pole position in GP3 and couldn’t have picked a better place to do it than at home in Germany at the Hockenheimring. The impressive ART Grand Prix star edged out Series leader Alex Lynn. Nick Yelloly (Status Grand Prix) completed the top three.
Hot temperatures again greeted Hockenheim for the 27 drivers in the thirty minute qualifying session. Jimmy Eriksson (Koiranen GP) was first to set the pace followed by Patrick Kujala (Marussia Manor Racing) and debutant Mitchell Gilbert (Trident).
Kirchhöfer broke into the 1m29’s, lapping almost half a second quicker than his nearest rival, whilst his ART Grand Prix teammate Dino Zamparelli lit the timing screen purple in the first two sectors but had to back off in the final sector due to a yellow flag from a small spin from Alfonso Celis. Jr.
Carlin’s Lynn flew to the head of the timings, with Zamparelli demoting Kirchhöfer to third. The Red Bull Junior driver then bettered his own personal best to increase his advantage over the pack and looked set to score a third pole position of the season.
But Kirchhöfer had his own plan and was not to be out done in front of his army of passionate fans: clocking the quickest laptime of the session with a 1:28.647 which was a mere 0.059s faster than Lynn. Yelloly also improved to third as the chequered flag was waved to record his best qualifying position of the 2014 season.
Kirchhöfer and Lynn locked out the front row, with Yelloly and Emil Bernstorff starting from the second row. Eriksson qualified in P5, in front of Gilbert – the Australian rookie in only his second race weekend producing a fine effort in sixth for Trident. Zamparelli, Richie Stanaway, Mathéo Tuscher and Dean Stoneman rounded out of the top ten.
Race 1 takes place later today at 16:20 and with record temperatures expected, a thrilling race lies in store as the fight continues to heat up in the Series.
.
Qualifying – Hockenheim
|
Driver
|
Team
|
Laptime
|
Laps
|
|
|
1.
|
Marvin Kirchhöfer
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1:28.647
|
14
|
|
2.
|
Alex Lynn
|
Carlin
|
1:28.706
|
13
|
|
3.
|
Nick Yelloly
|
Status Grand Prix
|
1:28.749
|
12
|
|
4.
|
Emil Bernstorff
|
Carlin
|
1:28.910
|
15
|
|
5.
|
Jimmy Eriksson*
|
Koiranen GP
|
1:28.949
|
14
|
|
6.
|
Mitchell Gilbert
|
Trident
|
1:28.995
|
13
|
|
7.
|
Dino Zamparelli
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1:29.133
|
13
|
|
8.
|
Richie Stanaway
|
Status Grand Prix
|
1:29.205
|
13
|
|
9.
|
Mathéo Tuscher
|
Jenzer Motorsport
|
1:29.212
|
13
|
|
10.
|
Dean Stoneman
|
Marussia Manor Racing
|
1:29.247
|
13
|
|
11.
|
Alex Fontana*
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1:29.329
|
14
|
|
12.
|
Roman De Beer
|
Trident
|
1:29.338
|
15
|
|
13.
|
Robert Visoiu
|
Arden International
|
1:29.400
|
14
|
|
14.
|
Jann Mardenborough
|
Arden International
|
1:29.405
|
13
|
|
15.
|
Riccardo Agostini
|
Hilmer Motorsport
|
1:29.516
|
13
|
|
16.
|
Alfonso Celis. Jr
|
Status Grand Prix
|
1:29.531
|
11
|
|
17.
|
Patric Niederhauser
|
Arden International
|
1:29.672
|
13
|
|
18.
|
Sebastian Balthasar
|
Hilmer Motorsport
|
1:29.849
|
17
|
|
19
|
Pal Varhaug*
|
Jenzer Motorsport
|
1:29.870
|
15
|
|
20.
|
Luis Sa Silva
|
Carlin
|
1:29.951
|
12
|
|
21.
|
Nelson Mason
|
Hilmer Motorsport
|
1:30.082
|
16
|
|
22.
|
Ryan Cullen
|
Marussia Manor Racing
|
1:30.180
|
15
|
|
23.
|
Patrick Kujala
|
Marussia Manor Racing
|
1:30.272
|
8
|
|
24.
|
Adderly Fong
|
Jenzer Motorsport
|
1:30.646
|
13
|
|
25.
|
Santiago Urrutia
|
Koiranen GP
|
1:30.977
|
14
|
|
26
|
Victor Carbone
|
Trident
|
1:31.219
|
17
|
|
27.
|
Carmen Jorda
|
Koiranen GP
|
1:32.951
|
16
|
*Issued with a 5 place grid penalty following an incident in Silverstone Race 2