Campos’ Leonardo Pulcini has inherited pole position for GP3’s Russian feature race after Nikita Mazepin’s fastest qualifying time was erased due to a track limits infringement.
Mazepin left the Sochi Autodrom track on two occasions during his fastest time, a 1m52.569s, at Turn 4 and as he crossed the finish line, and was found to have improved during the former occasion.
As a result, the time has been removed, meaning that the Russian reverts to his previous best of a 1m52.951s set with three minutes of the 30-minute session remaining, which demotes him to eighth in the final classification.
Pulcini was the nearest challenger to the Force India Formula 1 tester at the end of the session, ending 0.017s behind.
He will line up on pole with an ART driver alongside for the second time this season after Barcelona, as Callum Ilott moves to second.
Giuliano Alesi and Anthoine Hubert share the second row, with Ryan Tveter and Simo Laaksonen behind the duo in fifth and sixth.
Richard Verschoor’s career-best result improves to seventh, starting alongside Mazepin.
The updated result means that Hubert’s point lead is again at 29 points, with the title battle potentially ending at this round if he outscores both Mazepin and Ilott by 20 points during the weekend’s feature and sprint events.
Only 48 points remain available following this contest going into the Abu Dhabi finale in November.
