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.
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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