Abu Dhabi GP3: Ocon takes pole and championship lead
Esteban Ocon clinched a crucial pole for the opening race of the Abu Dhabi GP3 season finale, taking the championship lead from Luca Ghiotto by two points.
Polesitter Esteban Ocon, ART Grand Prix
GP3 Series Media Service
ART Grand Prix's Ocon had set the early pace before Kevin Ceccon and Jimmy Eriksson went quicker than the Frenchman.
But the Mercedes junior came back and went 0.337s ahead of Eriksson after 10 minutes.
It was then Trident driver Ghiotto who headed the timesheets, his lap of 1m55.634s putting him 0.417s ahead of Ocon, albeit only after appearing to exceed track limits.
For the final runs, Ceccon took provisional pole before Ocon lapped in a 1m55.491s, going a mere 0.016s ahead of the Italian driver to take his third straight GP3 pole and the championship lead.
Ceccon finished second ahead of Marvin Kirchhofer with Ghiotto only managing fourth, after losing crucial time in the final sector.
The top four were separated by only 0.088s, while the top 16 were within a second of the polesitter's time.
Eriksson was fifth ahead of Emil Bernstorff, while a fast looking Antonio Fuoco only finished seventh in an incident-free session.
The top 10 was rounded by Alex Palou in eighth, Matt Parry ninth and Artur Janosz 10th.
Qualifying times:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
1 | Esteban Ocon | ART Grand Prix | 1'55.491 | |
2 | Kevin Ceccon | Arden International | 1'55.507 | 0.016 |
3 | Marvin Kirchhofer | ART Grand Prix | 1'55.549 | 0.058 |
4 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1'55.574 | 0.083 |
5 | Jimmy Eriksson | Koiranen GP | 1'55.679 | 0.188 |
6 | Emil Bernstorff | Arden International | 1'55.852 | 0.361 |
7 | Antonio Fuoco | Carlin | 1'55.873 | 0.382 |
8 | Alex Palou | Campos Racing | 1'55.919 | 0.428 |
9 | Matt Parry | Koiranen GP | 1'55.952 | 0.461 |
10 | Artur Janosz | Trident | 1'56.064 | 0.573 |
11 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'56.095 | 0.604 |
12 | Mitch Gilbert | Carlin | 1'56.205 | 0.714 |
13 | Matheo Tuscher | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'56.265 | 0.774 |
14 | Ralph Boschung | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'56.284 | 0.793 |
15 | Matevos Isaakyan | Koiranen GP | 1'56.313 | 0.822 |
16 | Zaid Ashkanani | Campos Racing | 1'56.361 | 0.870 |
17 | Alex Fontana | Status Grand Prix | 1'56.538 | 1.047 |
18 | Adderly Fong | Carlin | 1'56.877 | 1.386 |
19 | Sandy Stuvik | Status Grand Prix | 1'56.936 | 1.445 |
20 | Michele Beretta | Trident | 1'57.030 | 1.539 |
21 | Alfonso Celis | ART Grand Prix | 1'57.163 | 1.672 |
22 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Campos Racing | 1'57.468 | 1.977 |
23 | Seb Morris* | Status Grand Prix | 1'56.871 | 1.380 |
24 | Alex Bosak | Arden International | 1'58.865 | 3.374 |
*Five-place penalty
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