Abu Dhabi: ART Grand Prix’s Esteban Ocon retook the lead in the GP3 series after qualifying in pole position for Saturday’s penultimate race of the season at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.
The Frenchman edged out Arden International’s Kevin Ceccon by just 0.016s and earned himself four points in the process in order to regain slight control of the standings heading into the final two races.
ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhofer qualified for third on the grid, while series leader coming into this event, Luca Ghiotto of team Trident, qualified for fourth. Two points still separate Ocon and Ghiotto in the title race.
“It wasn’t easy to be honest,” said Occon, whose time was 1:55.491. “It was probably the most difficult qualifying session of the year. It was very tight. Everybody is very close. The difference was just by nothing.
“At the end, it was all about doing a clean lap by really pushing hard. I managed to do that, but it was not easy at all. The previous lap I did, I was two tenths slower and with that result, I would have ended up, I don’t know where.”
Asked what it would mean to secure the title this weekend, Ocon added: “What will be important this time will be to finish ahead of Luca and the key to that is to make a good start. The practice start we did was okay, we changed a few things and it should be okay with the procedure. Let’s see if we can manage to be in front into the first corner. That will be the most important thing tomorrow.”
Grid positions for the final race of the GP3 series on Sunday will be determined by finishing positions from the first race, giving drivers even more incentive to get it right as the season goes right to the wire.
GP2 qualifying was held after the time of print on Friday but earlier in the day Pierre Gasly of team Driot-Arnaux Motorsport had been fastest in free practice with a time of 1:49.349. The Frenchman was ahead of already confirmed champion Stoffel Vandoorne and his ART Grand Prix teammate Nobuharu Matsushita.
