Hamilton takes pole in torrential rain

In torrential rain, Lewis Hamilton (ASM F3, Dallara-Mercedes, 2:33,705 min) took his fourth pole position in the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series season. In the session that had to be red flagged twice, James Rossiter (Signature-Plus, Dallara-Opel, 2:34,164 min) qualified for second position on the grid while Hamilton’s team-mate, Adrian Sutil (ASM F3, Dallara-Mercedes, 2:35,248 min), came third.

The qualifying for the fifth round of the Formula 3 Euro Series season that will be held this afternoon at the 6.968-kilometre Belgian GP circuit, was red flagged twice: after eight minutes, Gergory Franchi (Prema Powerteam, Dallara-Opel, 2:55.409 minutes) and Giedo van der Garde (Team Rosberg, Dallara-Opel, 2:38.194 minutes) spun and stranded in the gravel. And with ten minutes to go, Marc Bonanomi (Prema Powerteam, Dallara-Opel, 2:42.443 minutes) crashed into the tyre walls above Eau Rouge after having spun several times. The Italian was brought to the Medical Centre for a checkup.

In the closing minutes, both Loïc Duval (Signature-Plus, Dallara Opel, 2:35.732 minutes) and Adrian Sutil made a final effort to steal Hamilton’s pole but went off and stranded in the gravel. Guillaume Moreau (Signature, Dallara-Opel, 2:35.625 minutes) was the fastest rookie and finished fifth.

Lewis Hamilton (ASM F3): “I’m truly delighted with my pole position. Each time I took the lead somebody else succeeded in performing a faster lap, a short time later. Hadn’t I been hampered by Esteban Guerrieri, in my last quick lap, I could have set an even better time.”

James Rossiter (Signature-Plus): “Today’s qualifying went far better for me than yesterday’s. Second position on the grid is great, but I’m slightly annoyed, nevertheless, as I lost a lot of time in the last section.”

Adrian Sutil (ASM F3): “The qualifying was anything but easy as there were a lot of yellow flags and disruptions. Unfortunately I made a braking mistake in my last flying lap, thus stranding in the gravel. But at the end of the day I’m happy with the result.”

Track temperature: 8.1 ºC
Air: 7.8 ºC