Masters of F3: Ilott takes pole for qualifying race

Hitech GP's Alex Albon, Carlin's Alessio Lorandi and Van Amersfoort Racing's Ilott were among the fastest on track at the start, but lap times improved significantly after ten minutes with the first nine drivers sitting within four tenths of a second.

Ferrari junior driver Guan Yu Zhou surprised to lead the pack at halfway by clocking a 1m30.358s which put him in front of Albon and teammate Joel Eriksson.

Eriksson was first to improve after a mid-session pitstop, moving up to provisional pole after setting a purple time in the second sector.

But it wasn’t enough as Zhou improved as well, just as Albon and Ilott, who was 0.012 seconds faster than Eriksson with three minutes left.

A time of 1m33.837s was enough for the British driver to take pole position, with Eriksson alongside.

The second row will contain Albon and Niko Kari, as Zhou managed to take fifth, 0.024s faster than VAR's Pedro Piquet.

Red Bull junior Sergio Sette Camara was sixth ahead of rookie Anthoine Hubert, with the lead Carlin of Lorandi in ninth, as David Beckmann completed the top 10.

The result of the Saturday race will determine the starting order of the race on Sunday which lasts for 25 laps.

Qualifying results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Delay	Laps
1	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'29.820		13
2	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	1'29.832	0.012	17
3	Alexander Albon	Hitech GP	1'29.849	0.029	16
4	Niko Kari	Motopark	1'29.928	0.108	14
5	Guan Yu Zhou	Motopark	1'30.045	0.225	15
6	Pedro Piquet	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'30.069	0.249	15
7	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	1'30.098	0.278	15
8	Anthoine Hubert	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'30.189	0.369	15
9	Alessio Lorandi	Carlin	1'30.234	0.414	16
10	David Beckmann	Mucke Motorsport	1'30.450	0.630	14
11	Harrison Scott	Hitech GP	1'30.807	0.987	16
12	Colton Herta	Carlin	1'31.198	1.378	16
13	Sam MacLeod	Fortec	1'31.398	1.578	15
14	Ricky Capo	Fortec	1'32.195	2.375	17
15	Tom Randle	Double R Racing	1'32.325	2.505	18
16	Ameya Vaidyanathan	Carlin	1'32.408	2.588	18