Stanaway storms to first pole in Budapest

Kiwi Richie Stanaway claimed his maiden pole position in GP3 today, narrowly edging out Series leader from Carlin, Alex Lynn by a mere 0.035s. Nick Yelloly also from Status Grand Prix was in third making it an excellent start to proceedings for the green and black outfit.
Hot temperatures set the scene for the thirty minute qualifying session at the Hungaroring for Round 5 of the 2014 GP3 Series. ART Grand Prix’s Dino Zamparelli was the first driver to lap in the 1m33’s to go P1 by almost half a second with his teammate Alex Fontana his nearest rival.
There were small spins for Sebastian Balthasar, Mathéo Tuscher and Riccardo Agostini with all drivers avoiding contact with barriers, thus able to continue. Red Bull Junior team driver Lynn had set the fastest sector one but at the midway point of the session the Brit was in an unusual position of a lowly P24. His nearest rival in the Series Jimmy Eriksson was only place higher in qualifying at the midway point but got his head down and the Swede shot up to P3.
The Status Grand Prix duo of Yelloly and Stanaway went P2 and P3, with the Brit two tenths off Zamparelli’s best effort. Marussia Manor Racing’s Patrick Kujala rose to P2 whilst Zamparelli further improved on his quickest lap to increase his advantage at the head of the timesheet.
It was all change at the top over the next few minutes with Arden International’s Robert Visoiu posting the best lap, until Lynn jumped from P24 to provisional pole, a tenth faster than the Romanian. There was more excitement to come though with Stanaway setting the fastest time of the session in a 1:33.553.
With 2 minutes and 55 seconds left on the clock the session was red flagged when Alfonso Celis. Jr stopped after contact at with the barrier at Turn 5 and his car was in a dangerous position. Roman De Beer had also spun in a separate incident. Fontana had been on a flier on that lap and had to back off for the red flag with many others driver facing the same predicament on their push laps.
The drivers formed a large queue in the pitlane as they were eager to get back onto the circuit for one final attempt in the fight for pole. Yelloly lit the middle sector purple to move up to P3 but the session would belong to Stanaway at the chequered flag.  Behind Stanaway, Lynn and Yelloly were Visoiu, Zamparelli, Emil Bernstorff, Patric Niederhauser, Fontana, Kujala and Marvin Kirchhöfer.
Race 1 takes place later today at 16:20 local time as the quest for supremacy continues.
Qualifying – Budapest
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Richie Stanaway
Status Grand Prix
1:33.553
15
2.
Alex Lynn
Carlin
1:33.588
13
3.
Nick Yelloly
Status Grand Prix
1:33.679
13
4.
Robert Visoiu
Arden International
1:33.729
13
5.
Dino Zamparelli
ART Grand Prix
1:33.771
13
6.
Emil Bernstorff
Carlin
1:33.807
14
7.
Patric Niederhauser
Arden International
1:33.873
13
8.
Alex Fontana
ART Grand Prix
1:33.894
13
9.
Patrick Kujala
Marussia Manor Racing
1:33.975
13
10.
Marvin Kirchhöfer*
ART Grand Prix
1:34.076
13
11.
Luis Sa Silva**
Carlin
1:34.084
13
12.
Jimmy Eriksson
Koiranen GP
1:34.124
14
13.
Jann Mardenborough
Arden International
1:34.231
13
14.
Mitchell Gilbert
Trident
1:34.253
12
15.
Santiago Urrutia
Koiranen GP
1:34.265
14
16.
Dean Stoneman
Marussia Manor Racing
1:34.308
12
17.
Roman De Beer
Trident
1:34.327
13
18.
Riccardo Agostini
Hilmer Motorsport
1:34.346
13
19
Mathéo Tuscher
Jenzer Motorsport
1:34.420
13
20.
Nelson Mason
Hilmer Motorsport
1:34.450
13
21.
Pal Varhaug*
Jenzer Motorsport
1:34.545
13
22.
Sebastian Balthasar
Hilmer Motorsport
1:34.569
13
23.
Alfonso Celis. Jr
Status Grand Prix
1:34.821
10
24.
Christopher Höher
Jenzer Motorsport
1:35.776
12
25.
Ryan Cullen
Marussia Manor Racing
1:35.915
13
26
Carmen Jorda
Koiranen GP
1:38.632
14
*Issued with a 5 place grid penalty following an incident in Hockenheim Race 2
**Issued with a 5 place grid penalty following an incident in Budapest Free Practice