Barcelona GP3: Pulcini beats Mazepin to first pole of 2018
Campos Racing's Leonardo Pulcini took his maiden GP3 pole position in Barcelona, beating ART rookie Nikita Mazepin by 0.057s.
Leonardo Pulcini, Campos Racing
GP3 Series Media Service
Only 0.062s separated the top three of Anthoine Hubert, Giuliano Alesi and Jake Hughes after the first set of flyers, but Mazepin was quick to break through the 1m33s barrier and take the lead.
The Russian held a lead of less than a tenth over teammate Hubert into the mid-session lull, and it was also Mazepin who initially lowered the benchmark during the second runs as well.
His 1m32.410 gave the Russian a significant advantage, with Niko Kari and Pulcini only managing to narrowly cut into his lead.
When fellow ART drivers Hubert and Callum Ilott managed to set comparable laptimes, the Frenchman even outpacing him by 0.005s, Mazepin went a tenth quicker and reclaimed the lead.
However, Campos' Pulcini was able to go even quicker and beat Mazepin to pole by 0.057s with a time of 1m32.258s.
Mazepin will start his maiden GP3 race in second, with ART teammates Hubert and Ilott forming the second row.
MP duo Kari and Dorian Boccolacci took fifth and sixth respectively with Simo Laaksonen (Campos) securing seventh.
David Beckmann was the fastest Jenzer car in eighth with Alessio Lorandi and Alesi leading Trident's effort to complete the top 10.
Hughes had a disappointing session in 11th, more than half a second off the pace of his teammate Mazepin.
Qualifying results
Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leonardo Pulcini | Campos Racing | 1'32.258 | |
2 | Nikita Mazepin | ART Grand Prix | 1'32.315 | 0.057 |
3 | Anthoine Hubert | ART Grand Prix | 1'32.405 | 0.147 |
4 | Callum Ilott | ART Grand Prix | 1'32.550 | 0.292 |
5 | Niko Kari | MP Motorsport | 1'32.590 | 0.332 |
6 | Dorian Boccolacci | MP Motorsport | 1'32.606 | 0.348 |
7 | Simo Laaksonen | Campos Racing | 1'32.774 | 0.516 |
8 | David Beckmann | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'32.796 | 0.538 |
9 | Alessio Lorandi | Trident | 1'32.802 | 0.544 |
10 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 1'32.829 | 0.571 |
11 | Jake Hughes | ART Grand Prix | 1'32.855 | 0.597 |
12 | Juan Manuel Correa | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'32.894 | 0.636 |
13 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 1'32.953 | 0.695 |
14 | Tatiana Calderon | Jenzer Motorsport | 1'32.955 | 0.697 |
15 | Julien Falchero | Arden International | 1'33.099 | 0.841 |
16 | Diego Menchaca | Campos Racing | 1'33.135 | 0.877 |
17 | Joey Mawson | Arden International | 1'33.168 | 0.910 |
18 | Gabriel Aubry | Arden International | 1'33.252 | 0.994 |
19 | Ryan Tveter | Trident | 1'33.665 | 1.407 |
20 | Will Palmer | MP Motorsport | 1'33.710 | 1.452 |
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