Kvyat flies to maiden GP3 pole in Monza

MW Arden’s Daniil Kvyat set a lap time of 1:36.933 to achieve his debut pole in the category and finish over half a second quicker over his nearest rival, teammate Robert Visoiu. The Romanian driver will join Kvyat on the front row in his best qualifying of the season with title contender Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) heading the second row in P3. Kvyat’s flier was over seven seconds faster than the 2012 pole time set with the previous generation car.

The 30 minute session was filled with anticipation with four vital points up for grabs in the chase for the elusive GP3 crown. Another hot day greeted the 27 drivers as they lined up, eager to be in contention for pole position. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Williamson led the way with the Spaniard first to lap in the 1m37’s early on.

Kvyat demoted his teammate to take provisional pole, again showing good pace after topping yesterday’s Free Practice session. At the midway point, most drivers returned to the pits for new rubber and make set-up changes. The Russian driver was busy lighting up the timing screen as he lapped in the 1m36’s to set the target to his competitors by a large margin of half a second.

Ellinas was one of the big movers in the final minutes, shooting up to P3 behind Kvyat and Visoiu. Carlin’s Nick Yelloly in P5 was also trying to improve but ran wide over the curbs which sent his car into a spin and a premature halt to his session. His teammate Alexander Sims also had an excursion into the gravel, whilst home favorite David Fumanelli (Trident) stopped at Turn 2 which was covered by yellow flags.

At the checkered flag, Kvyat enjoyed his maiden pole with his teammate Visoiu in tow. Ellinas can concentrate on reclaiming his lead in the GP3 title proceedings with a strong qualifying in third ahead of Sims, Yelloly, Sainz, Conor Daly, Series leader Facu Regalia, Kevin Korjus and Williamson.

Action is guaranteed in Race 1, which starts at 17.20 CET later today as the quest for the GP3 title rises another notch…

Lineup

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Daniil Kvyat	MW Arden	1:36.933	14
2.	Robert Visoiu	MW Arden	1:37.444	15
3.	Tio Ellinas	Marussia Manor Racing	1:37.526	14
4.	Alexander Sims	Carlin	1:37.580	13
5.	Nick Yelloly	Carlin	1:37.602	12
6.	Carlos Sainz	MW Arden	1:37.619	15
7.	Conor Daly	ART Grand Prix	1:37.708	11
8.	Facu Regalia	ART Grand Prix	1:37.715	11
9.	Kevin Korjus	Koiranen GP	1:37.723	13
10.	Lewis Williamson	Bamboo Engineering	1:37.942	12
11.	Dino Zamparelli	Marussia Manor Racing	1:37.991	14
12.	Jack Harvey	ART Grand Prix	1:38.111	11
13.	Patric Niederhauser	Jenzer Motorsport	1:38.113	13
14.	Adderly Fong	Status Grand Prix	1:38.141	14
15.	Patrick Kujala	Koiranen GP	1:38.388	13
16.	Giovanni Venturini	Trident	1:38.419	15
17.	Melville McKee	Bamboo Engineering	1:38.450	12
18.	Luis Sa Silva	Carlin	1:38.495	14
19.	Alex Fontana	Jenzer Motorsport	1:38.522	12
20.	David Fumanelli	Trident	1:38.566	12
21.	Aaro Vainio*	Koiranen GP	1:38.606	13
22.	Jimmy Eriksson	Status Grand Prix	1:38.615	14
23.	Josh Webster	Status Grand Prix	1:38.660	13
24.	Emanuele Zonzini	Trident	1:38.934	14
25.	Ryan Cullen	Marussia Manor Racing	1:39.312	13
26.	Samin Gomez	Jenzer Motorsport	1:39.474	13
27.	Carmen Jorda**	Bamboo Engineering	1:40.218	14

*Vainio has a 5 place grid penalty following an incident in Spa Race 2.
**Jorda has a 10 place grid penalty following Free Practice in Monza