Lance Stroll will start from pole position for the opening race of the Norisring weekend after a late flying lap enabled him to top an incredibly tight qualifying session on Friday.
FIA European Formula 3 Championship leader Stroll took his Prema Powerteam car to the top with a lap of 48.148 seconds, with the whole twenty-car field separated by less than eight-tenths of a second.
Callum Ilott was second fastest in the session for Van Amersfoort Racing, but the double race winner will drop ten places on the grid following a change of Mercedes engine on his car, meaning the front row will be completed by new BMW Motorsport Junior driver Joel Eriksson of the German-based Motopark outfit.
The second row will see Ferrari Driver Academy star Guanyu Zhou of Motopark line up alongside Prema Powerteam’s Nick Cassidy, with only 0.007 seconds separating the duo, while George Russell will start fifth for Hitech GP, only 0.005 seconds back on Cassidy.
A further 0.003 seconds behind is Red Bull-backed Niko Kari of Motopark, who will start just ahead of his fellow Red Bull-backed team-mate Sergio Sette Câmara, while Maximilian Günther will start eighth for Prema Powerteam.
David Beckmann was the best placed of the Mücke Motorsport drivers in ninth, with the youngest driver on the grid being joined on the fifth row of the grid by series returnee William Buller, who is racing for Carlin this weekend in place of the injured Zhi Cong Li.
Norisring Race 1 Qualifying Times
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