Hungaroring F3: Ilott, Eriksson share Sunday poles
Prema Powerteam driver Callum Ilott and Motopark's Joel Eriksson will line up on pole in the second and third race respectively of European F3's Hungaroring round.
Photo by: FIA F3 / Suer
Ilott set the outright quickest time in Saturday afternoon qualifying, setting the race weekend's new fastest lap with a 1m34.890s as nobody else in the session managed to dip below 1m35s.
But while Eriksson had come up 0.167s short with his last-gasp improvement, it proved crucial nonetheless as it left a 1m35.267s lap as his second-best time – 0.003s quicker than Ilott's second-best effort recorded late on.
BMW junior Eriksson, who could only recover to 10th in the opening race after qualifying well down the order on a wet track, was at the top of the timing screens at the halfway point of this session, but was shuffled down the order as drivers found time on their second runs.
Ilott's benchmark lap, however, had come early during his second stint, as he strung together three purple sectors – and while other drivers would find more time in S1 and S2, nobody managed to string together a lap to dethrone the Brit.
McLaren protege Lando Norris was in the mix for pole but had to settle for third-quickest, denied a front row for Race 2 by Eriksson. He will also start Race 3 from third, his second-best time 0.005s slower than Eriksson's and 0.002s slower than Ilott's.
Prema's Guan Yu Zhou, part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, will join Norris on the second row on both occasions – although his second-best effort was just 0.012s off Eriksson's pole time.
Zhou was initially set to end up fifth in the order due to a late improvement for Hitech's Jake Hughes, but Hughes' lap was deleted.
As such, Hughes and championship leader Maxi Gunther of Prema will make up the third row in the first of Sunday's races, ahead of Motopark newcomer David Beckmann, his former VAR teammate Joey Mawson, Carlin's Jehan Daruvala and Hitech's Nikita Mazepin.
The very same drivers will make up the top 10 on the grid for the final race of the weekend. Beckmann will line up fifth, followed by Gunther, Hughes, Mawson, Mazepin and Daruvala.
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