Renault junior Jack Aitken has set the fastest-ever qualifying time in GP3 at Barcelona to take his first pole position in the series.
The ART driver set a time of 1m34.187s with just under two minutes of the 30-minute session to go to break a four-year pole record. Tio Ellinas had set the last record-breaking time in 2013 with a lap of 1m34.233s.
This is his first pole in the series in his 10th qualifying session, with GP3 the only one of four series that he didn’t start a race from the front of the grid in 2016.
Aitken’s time could not be beaten late on as team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi moved into second ahead of Trident’s Dorian Boccolacci. The Honda junior ended 0.171 seconds adrift, while Boccolacci is the highest rookie in the order.
Mercedes-backed George Russell started life in the series with the fourth-fastest time ahead of Arden’s Leonardo Pulcini and Haas’ development driver Arjun Maini.
Trident’s Giuliano Alesi finished seventh in his personal-best qualifying performance, with Alessio Lorandi eighth and Marcos Siebert ninth. Final ART driver Anthoine Hubert completed the top-10, 0.679s behind Aitken’s lap.
Red Bull junior Niko Kari was 11th, with Haas’ other development driver Santino Ferrucci 14th and Sauber’s Tatiana Calderon only managing 18th. Bruno Baptista completed the slowest time, 1.664s adrift.
