Pole Position for Norisring Novice Jake Hughes

This weekend, Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 0m48.231s) is racing at the Norisring in Nuremberg for the first time, but that did not hinder the Brit to secure pole position in first qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Lando Norris (Carlin, 0m48.233s) was only two thousandths of a second slower, he will be lining up second on the grid. The British rookie is another driver never to have raced at the 2.3 kilometres long Norisring before. Third place went to Brazilian Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing, 0m48.246s) while Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 0m48.334s) was the best-placed German in fourth. Points’ leader Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 0m48.871s) had to make do with 17th place.

In bright sunshine, the young drivers from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship started their qualifying that had no lack of action throughout its 20 minutes’ duration. In the closing stages, Lando Norris, Pedro Piquet, Maximilian Günther and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 0m48.409s) in particular battled for first place, before Jake Hughes claimed the top spot in the final minute. Thus, he secured himself his maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship pole position.

Pedro Piquet also enjoyed his best starting grid position in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship to date. He was classified third behind the British duo of Hughes and Norris, but still ahead of the two stalwarts Maximilian Günther and Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 0m48:352s). Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin, 0m48.371s) ended up sixth in his first qualifying at the street circuit in Nuremberg. The Austrian ranked ahead of Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 0m48.379s), the two rookies Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing, 0m48.405s) and Jehan Daruvala, plus Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing, 0m48.411s) in seventh to tenth place. The lap times of all drivers were within 0.7 seconds.

Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix): “It was a great qualifying. In free practice, we were still having a few issues and we were lacking pace. As we were four to five tenths of a second down on the front-runners, I didn’t expect to be in contention for pole position in qualifying. After free practice, we made a lot of changes on the car and all of a sudden, things went really well. Since the start of the year, I have been waiting to score such a result. At Budapest, it was going pretty well already and I am very happy that we were able to improve even more. Everybody knows that the start of the season wasn’t as we wanted it, so claiming pole position here now is even more beautiful.”

 

Qualifying 1

1st – No. 34, Jake Hughes, GBR, Hitech Grand Prix, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.231

2nd – No. 31, Lando Norris*, GBR, Carlin, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.233

3rd – No. 5, Pedro Piquet, BRA, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.246

4th – No. 3, Maximilian Günther, DEU, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.334

5th – No. 53, Callum Ilott, GBR, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.352

6th – No. 62, Ferdinand Habsburg, AUT, Carlin, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.371

7th – No. 8, Guan Yu Zhou, CHN, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.379

8th – No. 96, Joey Mawson*, AUS, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.405

9th – No. 27, Jehan Daruvala*, IND, Carlin, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.409

10th – No. 17, Harrison Newey, GBR, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.411

11th – No. 99, Nikita Mazepin, RUS, Hitech Grand Prix, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.452

12th – No. 7, Ralf Aron, EST, Hitech Grand Prix, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.457

13th – No. 25, Mick Schumacher*, DEU, Prema Powerteam, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.516

14th – No. 33, Marino Sato*, JPN, Motopark, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.593

15th – No. 55, David Beckmann, DEU, Van Amersfoort Racing, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.613

16th – No. 47, Keyvan Andres Soori, DEU, Motopark, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.721

17th – No. 1, Joel Eriksson, SWE, Motopark, Dallara F317 Volkswagen, 48.871

18th – No. 11, Tadasuke Makino, JPN, Hitech Grand Prix, Dallara F317 Mercedes-Benz, 48.930