Qualifying report
Formula V8 3.5 Spa-Francorchamps
Vaxiviere snatches FR3.5 pole at Spa
Matthieu Vaxiviere will start from pole position in today’s first race in the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps.
Charles Bradley
Edited: May 30, 2015, 9:46 AM
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The Lotus driver topped a thrilling qualifying session around the Belgian Grand Prix venue, although it was Oliver Rowland who was the first to dip under the two-minute barrier with a lap of 1m59.400s.
Vaxiviere usurped him with 1m59.296s, then followed it up with a fractionally slower 1m59.350s.
After a red flag caused by Egor Orudzhev, the session was compressed into a shootout in the closing moments.
Jazeman Jaafar moved up to third with a lap just 0.001s off Fortec teammate Rowland, with Nyck de Vries jumping to second, 0.016s off the pole time at that moment.
But Vaxiviere had more in the tank, lowering the P1 time to 1m58.768s, just after Jaafar had eclipsed his previous pole time with 1m59.001s.
But then last-gasp improvements from Beitske Visser and Nicholas Latifi rocketed them to second and third respectively, ahead of Jafaar and Rowland.
De Vries will start sixth, ahead of Tio Ellinas, Dean Stoneman and Manor F1 racer Roberto Merhi.
Pos Driver Entrant Time Gap 1 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1m58.768 2 Beitske Visser AVF 1m58.893 0.125 3 Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 1m58.987 0.219 4 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 1m59.001 0.233 5 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1m59.111 0.343 6 Nyck de Vries DAMS 1m59.312 0.544 7 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 1m59.325 0.557 8 Dean Stoneman DAMS 1m59.481 0.713 9 Roberto Merhi Pons Racing 1m59.560 0.792 10 Meindert van Buuren Lotus 1m59.632 0.864 11 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 1m59.648 0.880 12 Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1m59.690 0.922 13 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1m59.960 1.192 14 Alfonso Celis AVF 2m00.000 1.232 15 Bruno Bonifacio International Draco Racing 2m00.330 1.562 16 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 2m00.368 1.600 17 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 2m00.558 1.790 18 Philo Paz Armand Pons Racing 2m00.662 1.894 19 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 2m01.010 2.242 20 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 2m01.558 2.790
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