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Only six cars came out on track for the initial part of the session with John Martin setting the early pace with a 1m15.356 lap, 1.2 seconds faster than his nearest rival.  Martin was still on pole as the rest of the field started to put in their fastest times with Atte Mustonen, Sam Abay and Henry Arundel vieing for the second place on the front row as the 30-minute session reached its half way stage.  After completing 10 laps John Martin came into the pits still at the top of the times.

With 11 minutes remaining Oliver Turvey went quicker than Martin with a 1m15.323.  Marcus Ericsson briefly knocked Turvey off the top spot, but only for 15 seconds before the Englishman posted a 1m15.261.  He then knocked a further two tenths off the time to record the best lap of the session just as Brendon Hartley put in a 1m15.131 lap to secure the other front row place.

In the National Class Jay Bridger had held the top spot for the first 20-minutes of the session before his team mate Stefan Wilson posted a 1m16.532 to go two tenths quicker with just six minutes to go.

At the flag it was Turvey from Hartley and Ericsson. 

Pole sitter Oliver Turvey said, “I didn’t have any lap times on my dash, so it was quite a relaxing session!  I knew from my pit board that I was P1 for the majority of the session, and as long as that didn’t change I just kept driving as quick as I could.   Conditions were very different to this morning, I think the GT cars put down a lot of rubber, so the track was very different, but we dealt with it well.  It was good to continue the form we had a Spa and be quickest in practice and then quickest in first qualifying.  Hopefully we can continue to be at the front for the rest of the weekend.”

ROUND 17 Qualifying - Result

1 - 17 - INT - Oliver TURVEY - GBR - 1:15.000

2 - 3 - INT - Brendon HARTLEY - NZL - +0.131s

3 - 8 - INT - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - +0.302s

4 - 24 - INT - John MARTIN - AUS - +0.365s

5 - 4 - INT - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - +0.376s

6 - 9 - INT - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - +0.549s

7 - 26 - INT - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - +0.560s

8 - 1 - INT - Max CHILTON - GBR - +0.577s

9 - 28 - INT - Nick TANDY - GBR - +0.614s

10 - 18 - INT - Sam ABAY - AUS - +0.660s

11 - 14 - INT - Philip MAJOR - CAN - +0.714s

12 - 6 - INT - Henry ARUNDEL - GBR - +0.735s

13 - 2 - INT - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - +1.213s

14 - 85 - INV - Oliver OAKES - GBR - +1.335s

15 - 11 - INT - Alistair JACKSON - GBR - +1.409s

16 - 12 - INT - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - +1.439s

17 - 51 - NAT - Stefan WILSON - GBR - +1.532s

18 - 25 - INT - Clemente DE FARIA Jnr - BRA - +1.659s

19 - 50 - NAT - Jay BRIDGER - GBR - +1.689s

20 - 16 - INT - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - +1.913s

21 - 52 - NAT - Hywel LLOYD - GBR - +2.027s

22 - 53 - NAT - Steven GUERRERO - COL - +2.160s

23 - 57 - NAT - Salman AL KHALIFA - BHR - +2.226s

24 - 55 - NAT - Craig REIFF - GER - +2.740s

25 - 54 - NAT - Kristjan EINAR - ISL - +3.134s

26 - 61 - NAT - Jonathan LEGRIS - GBR - No Time Recorded (Gearbox failure)

Silverstone – 15 August 2008

Round 18 Qualifying

HARTLEY PIPS TURVEY TO TOP SLOT

Brendon Hartley posted the only sub 1 minute 15 second lap of the two qualifying periods to start Round 18 of the 2008 British F3 International Series at the head of the 25-car field tomorrow.  The New Zealander was 0.11 seconds quicker than Round 17 pole sitter Oliver Turvey with Nick Tandy starting at the head of the second row in his JTR run Mygale.  Stefan Wilson scored a double pole in the National Class finishing the session 0.024 seconds ahead of teammate Jay Bridger, with T Sport's Salman Al Khalifa in third. 

Marcus Ericsson led in the early part of the session as Jaime Alguersuari, Brendon Hartley, Nick Tandy and Oliver Turvey sat it out in the pitlane.  The Swede posted a 1m15.477 to head the time sheets after ten minutes just ahead of Atte Mustonen and John Martin.

Carlin driver Sam Abay then joined the fray going second as the half way point of the session approached, with Sergio Perez posting the third fastest time before going faster than Ericsson on his next lap with a 1m15.216.  The Swede responded but the time was only good enough to maintain his second place.

Alguersuari, Turvey and Tandy joined the fight at this point and were soon leaping up the table as Perez continued to improve his provisional pole time.  With eleven minutes of the session remaining Turvey went quicker than Perez by 0.003 seconds with John Martin improving to claim third place just 0.045 seconds behind the new pole position holder.

Turvey improved his time on the next lap as Hartley made his bid for the top spot just 0.06 seconds behind the Englishman however Nick Tandy came out of no where to put his JTR Mygale at the top of the time sheet as Sergio Perez came into the pits, his challenge completed.  Marcus Ericsson had a trip into the gravel at Brooklands but managed to keep his momentum to regain the track.  Henry Arundel wasn’t so lucky as he spun at Woodcote and came to rest on the grass on the inside of the corner his Dallara spinning its wheels on the grass. 

With just six minutes of the session remaining Nick Tandy still held the top spot but Brendon Hartley had other ideas and put in a 1m14.906 second lap to claim his fourth pole of the season.  With three minutes to go Hartley and Tandy came into the pits with just Turvey and Ericsson still circulating.  Ericsson improved to fourth place in the final minute of the session as Turvey improved to second and on his final lap just missed out on improving his time again on the final lap.

In an almost identical rerun of the earlier qualifying session Jay Bridger held the upper hand in the National Class for the majority of qualifying only to be pipped by his teammate Stefan Wilson in the final few minutes.  This time the gap was even closer between the Fluid Motorsport pair, with just 0.024 seconds separating them.

ROUND 18 Qualifying - Result

1 - 3 - INT - Brendon HARTLEY - NZL - 1:14.906

2 - 17 - INT - Oliver TURVEY - GBR - +0.110s

3 - 28 - INT - Nick TANDY - GBR - +0.230s

4 - 8 - INT - Marcus ERICSSON - SWE - +0.280s

5 - 9 - INT - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - +0.292s

6 - 18 - INT - Sam ABAY - AUS - +0.328s

7 - 24 - INT - John MARTIN - AUS - +0.334s

8 - 4 - INT - Jaime ALGUERSUARI - ESP - +0.415s

9 - 26 - INT - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - +0.616s

10 - 14 - INT - Philip MAJOR - CAN - +0.744s

11 - 1 - INT - Max CHILTON - GBR - +0.756s

12 - 85 - INV - Oliver OAKES - GBR - +0.830s

13 - 2 - INT - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - +0.946s

14 - 16 - INT - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - +0.985s

15 - 6 - INT - Henry ARUNDEL - GBR - +1.029s

16 - 12 - INT - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - +1.354s

17 - 51 - NAT - Stefan WILSON - GBR - +1.422s

18 - 11 - INT - Alistair JACKSON - GBR - +1.434s

19 - 25 - INT - Clemente DE FARIA JNR - BRA - +1.438s

20 - 50 - NAT - Jay BRIDGER - GBR - +1.446s

21 - 57 - NAT - Salman AL KHALIFA - BHR - +1.677s

22 - 53 - NAT - Steven GUERRERO - COL - +1.714s

23 - 52 - NAT - Hywel LLOYD - GBR - +1.805s

24 - 54 - NAT - Kristjan EINAR - ISL - +2.563s

25 - 55 - NAT - Craig REIFF - GER - +2.752s

26 - 61 - NAT - Jonathan LEGRIS - GBR - +3.170s