Croft: Second qualifying report

Dirani does the double at Croft

Danilo Dirani swept to his second pole position for round six of the Avon Tyres British Formula Three Championship at Croft in North Yorkshire this afternoon (May 1).

The qualifying was once again close with the top 16 drivers being covered by less than a second. Dirani clinched the position in warmer conditions, beating Ernesto Viso, who improved from sixth in the opening session to join him on the front row. Briton James Rossiter will once again start from third place.

Australian Will Power took fourth place, just ahead of Lucas Di Grassi and winner of round two Clivio Piccione. Round one winner Adam Carroll was outside the top six, just one-hundredth of a second behind Piccione.

The weekend went from bad to worse for series leader Nelson Piquet Jr. The Brazilian and his team struggled to find a good set-up for the twisty Croft track and he could only manage 12th on the grid for race two.

"It was not as easy as this morning," said Dirani. "I had to work harder in the car to get the time as the circuit felt a lot different in the warmer conditions. I need to get points this weekend so I will be thinking about that in each race tomorrow," he added.

The Scholarship Class pole position once again went to Ryan Lewis. The T-Sport driver beat Australian Barton Mawer in session two to also make it two out of two at the North East venue.

<pre> Avon Tyres British Formula Three Championship -- Round Six

Qualifying times: 1 Danilo Dirani Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1m 13.795s 2 Ernesto Viso Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1m 13.832s 3 James Rossiter Dallara F304 Opel-Spiess 1m 13.836s 4 Will Power Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1m 13.841s 5 Lucas Di Grassi Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo 1m 13.947s 6 Clivio Piccione Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1m 13.949s

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