Giedo van der Garde takes his maiden pole position

Giedo van der Garde (Team Rosberg, Dallara-Opel, 1:20.813 minutes) set the fastest lap time in the qualifying session for the 17th round of the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series session. The Dutch young gun lapped the EuroSpeedway Lausitz’ drying 3.442-kilometre circuit 0.131 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel (Mücke Motorsport, Dallara-Mercedes, 1:20.944 minutes), thus securing his maiden Formula 3 Euro Series pole, while Lewis Hamilton (ASM F3, Dallara-Mercedes, 1:21.230 minutes) and Loïc Duval (Signature-Plus, Dallara-Opel, 1:21.307 minutes) will share the second row on the grid for today’s 24-lap race.

On the drying track, the young drivers had to cope with difficult conditions, hence, it came as no surprise that some of them went off. With five more minutes to go, Formula 3 Euro Series newcomer Paolo Montin (Ombra Racing, Dallara-Honda, 1:24.623 minutes) spun and the session had to be red-flagged. At this point in time, Lewis Hamilton held the lead, with Franck Perera (Prema Powerteam, Dallara-Opel, 1:22.561 minutes) following in second position. Yet, when the session was restarted, Sebastian Vettel displaced the new Formula 3 Euro Series Champion as provisional pole-sitter, but just seconds later, the German lost his provisional pole to van der Garde. For the Dutch driver, who finished runner-up in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series rookie rankings, it’s the first pole position in his Formula 3 career.

Giedo van der Garde (Team Rosberg): “I’m just delighted to have secured my maiden Formula 3 Euro Series pole. I have to admit that I was a kind of lucky as the session was over directly after my pole lap. I like to drive in this mix of wet and dry track conditions. In these conditions, you have to look for grip, and that suited me well already in karting.”

Sebastian Vettel (Mücke Motorsport): “I’m happy with my second position on the grid, particularly in consideration of the poor result I had to settle for in yesterday’s qualifying session. During my in-lap, my team told me via the radio that I had secured pole position, but at the end of the day, Giedo van der Garde set an even faster lap time.”

Lewis Hamilton (ASM F3): “This qualifying session turned out to be a gamble. The track got drier and drier and the last driver to cross the line set the fastest lap time. I was slightly hampered on my final lap, but third grid position is okay.”

Track temperature: 10.1 ºC
Air: 9.7 ºC