Magnussen secures Ricard poles
Date published : 16 Jul 2011 - 08:57:52
Kevin Magnussen claimed his second consecutive clean sweep of pole positions by topping British Formula 3 qualifying at Paul Ricard this morning.The Dane's championship leading Carlin team-mate Felipe Nasr led the way in the first half of the session, but Magnussen made the best use of his second set of new tyres to once again find the crucial tenths needed to upstage his Brazilian rival.As at the Nurburgring last time out, where Magnussen took his maiden poles in the category, the Dane set two consecutive laps good enough to top the times. His 2m00.426s best gave him the top starting spot for tomorrow's 40-minute feature race, while a 2m00.528s lap next time around was enough to beat Nasr to pole for this afternoon's 30-minute opener as well.Runaway points leader Nasr ended up 0.235 seconds adrift of Magnussen. He set a 2m00.661s best on his first set of tyres, but could not improve his time thereafter and conceded the fight for pole by pitting with three minutes of the session remaining.Hitech's Antonio Felix da Costa looked to have the pace to challenge for pole but came up short by just under three tenths of a second. He will start alongside Carlin's Carlos Huertas on row three for both of the main points-paying races.Rookie Jack Harvey produced his best qualifying performance yet to go fifth fastest. The 2010 Formula BMW Europe runner-up pipped Carlin team-mate Rupert Svendsen-Cook by just one hundredth of a second as this pair rounded out the top six.Hitech's Pietro Fantin lapped consistently within the 2m01.3s bracket to wind up seventh fastest, just under a tenth clear of Fortec's Will Buller, who was the fastest of the Mercedes powered runners in eighth.Carlin's Jazeman Jaafar and Buller's Fortec team-mate Lucas Foresti rounded out a top 10 covered by 1.418s.Race one grid:Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.528s 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.691s + 0.163s 3. Antonio Felix da Costa Hitech Dallara-VW 2m00.870s + 0.342s 4. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.943s + 0.415s 5. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 2m01.060s + 0.532s 6. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 2m01.105s + 0.577s 7. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 2m01.358s + 0.830s 8. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m01.544s + 1.016s 9. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 2m01.628s + 1.100s10. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m02.102s + 1.574s11. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.161s + 1.633s12. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.178s + 1.650s13. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m02.220s + 1.692s14. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m02.313s + 1.785s15. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 2m02.409s + 1.881s16. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 2m02.489s + 1.961s17. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m02.515s + 1.987s18. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.766s + 2.238s19. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m04.201s + 3.673s20. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 2m05.451s + 4.923sRace three grid:Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.426s 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.661s + 0.235s 3. Antonio Felix da Costa Hitech Dallara-VW 2m00.713s + 0.287s 4. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.937s + 0.511s 5. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 2m00.993s + 0.567s 6. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW 2m01.003s + 0.577s 7. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 2m01.317s + 0.891s 8. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m01.400s + 0.974s 9. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 2m01.610s + 1.184s10. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m01.844s + 1.418s11. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m01.900s + 1.474s12. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.095s + 1.669s13. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.139s + 1.713s14. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc 2m02.236s + 1.810s15. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m02.278s + 1.852s16. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m02.435s + 2.009s17. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 2m02.462s + 2.036s18. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW 2m02.550s + 2.124s19. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m03.923s + 3.497s20. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen 2m04.885s + 4.459sRace one grid: Second-fastest qualifying timesRace two grid: Race one results with top eight reversedRace three grid: Fastest qualifying times
