Qualifying report

Jerez F3.5: Orudzhev grabs his first pole of 2017

Seven-time Formula V8 3.5 race winner Egor Orudzhev set the pace in the Saturday qualifying at Jerez, claiming his first pole position of 2017 and his second overall in the series.

Orudzhev recorded his time of 1m26.811s with just one minute to go, beating Roy Nissany's earlier benchmark by half a second.

Nissany, quickest before the mid-session pitstops, also improved, but his effort was nearly two tenths off the pace.

Pietro Fittipaldi, who topped five out of the six previous qualifying sessions, narrowly held on to third.

He was just two thousandths of a second ahead of Alfonso Celis when the chequered flag fell, but a late flyer from Yu Kanamaru saw the Japanese driver split the duo, 0.001s behind Fittipaldi and ahead of Celis.

Championship leader Rene Binder was sixth, the Austrian driver opting to first enter the track while the others already ended their first stints.

Orudzhev's teammate Matevos Isaakyan and Diego Menchaca were seventh and eighth respectively, both within four tenths of the leader.

Teo Martin Motorsport duo Nelson Mason and Konstantin Tereshchenko were ninth and 11th, sandwiching Damiano Fioravanti, as Giuseppe Cipriani rounded out the field.

Qualifying times

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Egor Orudzhev	SMP Racing by AVF	1:26.811	-
2	Roy Nissany	RP MOTORSPORT	1:26.987	+0.176
3	Pietro Fittipaldi	LOTUS	1:27.069	+0.258
4	Yu Kanamaru	RP MOTORSPORT	1:27.070	+0.259
5	Alfonso Celis	FORTEC MOTORSPORTS	1:27.071	+0.260
6	Rene Binder	LOTUS	1:27.129	+0.318
7	Matevos Isaakyan	SMP Racing by AVF	1:27.199	+0.388
8	Diego Menchaca	FORTEC MOTORSPORTS	1:27.206	+0.395
9	Nelson Mason	TEO MARTIN MOTORSPORT	1:27.360	+0.549
10	Damiano Fioravanti	RP MOTORSPORT	1:27.721	+0.910
11	Konstantin Tereshchenko	TEO MARTIN MOTORSPORT	1:27.867	+1.056
12	Giuseppe Cipriani	IL BARONE RAMPANTE	1:29.891	+3.080