28 September 2014
Pierre Gasly scores maiden FR 3.5 Series pole
The 2013 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport) seized the first Formula Renault 3.5 Series pole of his career in qualifying on Sunday. The Frenchman will head the grid from his Red Bull Junior Team colleague Carlos Sainz (DAMS), with Sergey Sirotkin (Fortec Motorsports), Jazeman Jaafar (ISR) and Roberto Merhi (Zeta Corse) following them on the grid for this afternoon’s race at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Sergey Sirotkin set the early pace and was the first driver to dip under the 1:50 mark. The Sauber F1 Team reserve driver improved on that time and then responded when Jazeman Jaafar, Marlon Stockinger (Lotus) and Carlos Sainz all tried to outpace him before the switch to fresh tyres.
The field returned to the track with ten minutes remaining, with Esteban Ocon (Comtec Racing) the first to beat the Russian’s benchmark time. The times continued to come down in the closing stages only for the session to a premature end when Zoel Amberg (AVF) went off, leaving home driver Pierre Gasly in pole ahead of Carlos Sainz and Sergey Sirotkin.
Sunday’s Formula Renault 3.5 Series race at the Circuit Paul Ricard gets under way at 13.00.
Pierre Gasly: “We’ve been working for this pole position since the start of the season. It’s going to make the race a little bit easier because it’s an important step on the road to victory. There’s still the race to come, with the compulsory tyre stop, which we do pretty well, though we’re going to carry on working. All the same, I’m very happy with this pole because we’ve come close before without ever quite managing it, and it’s been long overdue.”
