Edwards storms to pole at Snetterton

First American to claim a British Formula 3 pole position in 9 years!

Norfolk, England. Today, Paul Edwards became the first American driver, since Elton Julian in 1992, to earn pole position for a British Formula 3 championship race. Edwards claimed the honour at Snetterton circuit in Norfolk, England, and simultaneously served notice that he would be a serious Championship contender. The British Formula 3 series is the most prestigious junior level championship in the world and series graduates have claimed more Formula One race and championship victories than graduates from any other series.

Edwards, driving a Mugen-Honda powered Dallara, claimed pole position for round four of the Championship in difficult wet/dry conditions that played straight to the Californian's strengths. In earlier qualifying, for round three of the Championship, Edwards was relegated to tenth place by spinning cars and yellow flags on each of his flying laps. Edwards' is joined by his Alan Docking Racing teammate, Andy Priaulx, on the front row for the second of Sunday's two races.

Edwards, an acknowledged star of the future, is enthused about his prospects for Sunday's races and knows the importance of performing well:

"I knew at the start of qualifying that I had a car capable of winning pole position. The car's setup was perfect and as always the guys at Mugen-Honda had provided me with a great engine. I was unlucky in qualifying for race 3, but in the second session I saw a gap in traffic and went for it. It is a nice feeling to win pole position for a British Formula 3 race in only your fourth attempt. Of course my performance is only part of a total team effort and without the support of Mugen-Honda; the Alan Docking team; my engineer B.A. Mitchell; and my sponsors I wouldn't be here today. The challenge now is to build from this pole position and win tomorrow's race."

Edwards' performance comes after a strong showing two weeks ago in rounds one and two of the Championship. In his first ever British Formula 3 race, Edwards claimed fourth starting position and moved to the lead on the opening lap, only to finish fourth after overheating his tyres. While fourth was small consolation for such a brilliant start, his performance served notice of things to come.

Edwards is sponsored by Doug Mockett and Company, a retailer of high-end architectural hardware; Logic Nutrition; Bell Helmets; and Aston-Green Audi. He currently lies sixth in the Championship standings after two races. <pre> SNETTERTON QUALIFYING SUMMARY: ROUNDS 3 & 4 Race 1 qualifying (dry track) Pos, Driver 1 Matt Davies 1m02.247s 2 Derek Hayes 3 Nicolas Kiesa 4 Takuma Sato 5 Gianmaria Bruni 6 Andre Lotterer 7 Ryan Dalziel 8 James Courtney 9 Anthony Davidson 10 Paul Edwards

Race 2 qualifying (damp, but drying track) Pos, Driver 1 Paul Edwards 1m12.415s 2 Andy Priaulx 3 Takuma Sato 4 Derek Hayes 5 Nicolas Kiesa 6 Milos Pavlovic 7 Alex Gurney 8 James Courtney 9 Mark Taylor 10 Gianmaria Bruni

-Justin Troxell