Norisring European F3: Max Verstappen claims double pole
Max Verstappen will start both of Sunday's Formula 3 European Championship races at the Norisring from pole position
The Dutch racer headed championship leader Esteban Ocon by 0.088 seconds just after the midway point of Saturday afternoon's qualifying session when it started to rain, and everyone returned to the pits.
Although he has won five races, these are only the third and fourth poles for Verstappen's Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen - and one of those he did not take up after mechanical problems struck at Hockenheim.
On second-fastest times, Ocon's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes slips to fourth on the grid for race three, allowing Tom Blomqvist to move onto the front row for the weekend's finale in his Carlin-run Dallara-VW.
Blomqvist is third on the grid for race three, while Felix Rosenqvist's Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes is fourth and third for the two races.
American Santino Ferrucci, who is in only his second European F3 weekend, was the surprise turn of this session to join Verstappen in making it two 16-year-olds in the top five with his EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes.
Ferrucci shares the third row for both races with Carlin runner Jordan King, who had a welcome upturn in form to shade Ferrucci for fifth on the grid for race three.
Lucas Auer, a podium finisher earlier on Saturday, was seventh fastest in his Mucke machine from Carlin twins Antonio Giovinazzi and Jake Dennis, with the Prema car of Nicholas Latifi rounding out the top 10.
For the third race, Giovinazzi moves up to seventh ahead of Dennis, Antonio Fuoco and Auer.
Jules Szymkowiak, who qualified 14th, will start race two from 19th - he earned a five-place grid penalty for an incident with Michele Beretta in the morning race.
Most of the runners got out on wet-weather tyres towards the end of the session. With rain looking likely for Sunday's two races, Verstappen's five flying laps were all faster than the best anyone else managed - he was 1.4s faster than King, with Ocon the third best.
Race two qualifying: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.118s 2. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 48.206s +0.088s 3. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 48.240s +0.122s 4. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.310s +0.192s 5. Santino Ferrucci Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 48.444s +0.326s 6. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 48.447s +0.329s 7. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.461s +0.343s 8. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 48.586s +0.468s 9. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 48.597s +0.479s 10. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 48.625s +0.507s 11. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 48.660s +0.542s 12. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 48.753s +0.635s 13. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.765s +0.647s 14. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.821s +0.703s 15. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 48.830s +0.712s 16. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.857s +0.739s 17. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 48.987s +0.869s 18. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.063s +0.945s 19. Michele Beretta EuroInternational Dallara-Merc 49.155s +1.037s 20. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 49.177s +1.059s 21. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 49.190s +1.072s 22. Felipe Guimaraes Double R Dallara-Merc 49.191s +1.073s 23. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.322s +1.204s 24. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 49.430s +1.312s 25. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 50.154s +2.036s 26. Mitchell Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Merc 50.838s +2.720s Race three qualifying: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.255s 2. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 48.299s +0.044s 3. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.383s +0.128s 4. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 48.384s +0.129s 5. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 48.520s +0.265s 6. Santino Ferrucci EuroInternational Dallara-Merc 48.553s +0.298s 7. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 48.594s +0.339s 8. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 48.647s +0.392s 9. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 48.665s +0.410s 10. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.672s +0.417s 11. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 48.764s +0.509s 12. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 48.779s +0.524s 13. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 48.887s +0.632s 14. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 48.912s +0.657s 15. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 48.971s +0.716s 16. Michele Beretta EuroInternational Dallara-Merc 49.186s +0.931s 17. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 49.192s +0.937s 18. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 49.225s +0.970s 19. Dennis van der Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 49.254s +0.999s 20. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 49.265s +1.010s 21. Felipe Guimaraes Double R Dallara-Merc 49.266s +1.011s 22. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 49.334s +1.079s 23. Tatiana Calderón Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 49.356s +1.101s 24. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 49.559s +1.304s 25. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 50.184s +1.929s 26. Mitchell Gilbert Fortec Dallara-Merc 50.958s +2.703s
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