Tom Blomqvist and Esteban Ocon have secured the pole positions for the three races that mark the opening round of the 2014 FIA European Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone
Sharing the bill with the World Endurance Championship, the European F3 Championship kicks off with a blend of fairly experienced drivers and a raft of newcomers, many of which looked set to steal the limelight as qualifying for the weekend’s three races got underway.
Nonetheless, it was one of the more experienced drivers, Blomqvist that would emerge best in qualifying for the opening race, the British driver impressing on home soil in his Volkswagen-powered Jagonya Ayam Carlin machine to defeat Ocon by just 0.002secs.
However, series newcomer Ocon would hit back in the second bout of qualifying, claiming pole position for the second race of the weekend for defending champions Prema, while his second-best lap also meant he would claim pole for race three.
Ocon’s team-mate Antonio Fuoco heads up row two for race one, alongside Max Verstappen, the Dutchman impressing despite not quite being able to match his pace setting practice performance ahead of what will be his first weekend in car racing.
Felix Serralles will start fifth, ahead of Jordan King, while Ed Jones makes it three British drivers well inside the top ten for the opener.
In race two, Canadian Nicholas Latifi makes it a Prema 1-2 on the grid, with Blomqvist and Fuoco on row two, while Antonio Giovanazzi was a big improver between sessions, grabbing fifth on the grid having only been 12th in the first session. He shares row three with Verstappen.
For race three, Ocon made it a double pole position thanks to his second-best time, ahead of Fuoco, Blomqvist, Latifi, Verstappen and Giovanazzi.
