Double Pole Position for Alvaro Parente at Knockhill

21 May 2005

Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente put his Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda on pole position for both British F3 International races on Sunday at Knockhill. Parente was unbeatable in both dry and wet conditions during the two qualifying sessions. Afterwards he stopped to describe the varying conditions in session two : "At the beginning it was raining very little. I think it stopped a bit after the red flags, which was when the circuit was at its best, and I did my time," the Carlin driver said. "Suddenly it just started to rain a lot and that was it. I couldn't see anything so I came into the pits."

In the first qualifying session, the Carlin Motorsport driver set a time of 46.923, only 0.086 seconds faster than second-placed Mike Conway, driving for Fortec Motorsport.

Promatecme's Stephen Kane came third, setting a time of 47.079 in the first session in his Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda. Kane was seventh in qualifying two, after losing time at the start of the session due to problems, "We had to change the gearbox in between the qualifying sessions, as I had oil leaking onto the clutch," Kane explained. "When I went out, the track was already too wet to set a competitive time. I hope to get a win tomorrow in race one and I can't see a reason why I can't do it."

Ryan Lewis, who continuously improved the times at the beginning of session one, eventually qualified in fourth place with a lap of 47.124. He came second in qualifying two, his lap of 54.017 only 0.002 seconds from Parente's pole position. "Once again, I missed out on pole by thousandths of a second - just like in Spa. Pole position is still eluding me at the moment, but we're getting there." said the T-Sport driver. "Qualifying has been better this weekend. It's something I needed to work on. We've had good balance; the test at the start of the week went well: it's looking good."

Marko Asmer (Hitech Racing) finished in third place in the second qualifying session, setting a time of 54.255, having earlier qualified seventh for race one. "I am hoping for a good race tomorrow," the Estonian said afterwards. "The conditions might get quite tricky, if it starts raining again, but let's hope for a dry race."National ClassCharlie Hollings snatched his fourth pole in a row in the National Class, setting a time of 47.506 in the first qualifying. Finishing third in qualifying two, the Promatecme driver was very pleased with the results. "I'm especially happy because there is a big gap between me and the other National Class drivers," Hollings said afterwards. "I am now hoping for my first win tomorrow. I had two poles at Croft and didn't finish either race, which was very disappointing. If we finish, we should definitely mix it at the front. It will difficult if it rains, because the circuit is so tight and there is so much spray around."

The leader of the National Class, Barton Mawer (T-Sport) qualified second with a time of 47.988, followed by Juho Annala from Alan Docking Racing, who was third, lapping in 48.124.

In qualifying two, P1 Motorsport's Salvador Duran got pole position with a time of 54.826, which even saw him qualify ahead of Championship Class driver Bruno Senna of Raikönnen Robertson Racing. Team SWR's Josh Fisher, who set a time of 54.960, finished in second place.

Both sessions were briefly red-flagged. Carlin Motorsport's Ricardo Teixeira and Salvador Duran (P1 Motorsport) both spun into the gravel in the first qualifying, and the session was stopped to allow the cars to be recovered from Scotsman Corner. Cheong Lou Meng from Edenbridge spun out early in qualifying two, which forced the session to be stopped briefly.

SRO

See 2005 series calendar for British F3 International Series

Related Story 08.05.2005 - 1-2 Finish for Carlin Motorsport in British F3 at a Rainy Croft