Marco Wittmann secured pole position for the 70th Grand Prix de Pau by recording the fastest time of Saturday's two qualifying sessions.
Wittmann's Signature teammate Carlos Munoz set the pace in the earlier session, but the second session saw all of the drivers improve on their times.
International F3 Trophy points leader Roberto Merhi was leading at the half way point of the second session for Prema, before being ousted by teammate Daniel Juncadella. The Signature pair would end the session on top though, with a margin of just 0.095 seconds between them.
“I am really happy being on pole position for my maiden race at Pau,” said Wittmann. “We had a good basic set-up and I am feeling very well at this circuit. In first qualifying, I was still slightly behind my team-mate Carlos Munoz, but I knew that I still could go faster.”
Munoz said: “I was still on top after first qualifying, now I am second, just behind my team-mate Marco Wittmann. Having had many problems in qualifying for the first rounds of the Formula 3 Euro Series, I am now really happy with second place.”
The two other Signature drivers, Laurens Vanthoor and Daniel Abt qualified in fifth and sixth places respectively. Tom Dillmann was seventh for Motopark, with Jazeman Jaafar eighth for Carlin. Double R pairing Pipo Derani and Marko Asmer rounded out the top ten, with Kimiya Sato, Carlos Huertas and Richard Bradley completing the field.
Qualifying results:
1. Marco Wittmann Signature 1m10.572s
2. Carlos Munoz Signature 1m10.667s (+ 0.095s)
3. Daniel Juncadella Prema 1m10.833s (+ 0.261s)
4. Roberto Merhi Prema 1m10.941s (+ 0.369s)
5. Daniel Abt Signature 1m10.998s (+ 0.426s)
6. Laurens Vanthoor Signature 1m11.043s (+ 0.471s)
7. Tom Dillmann Motopark 1m11.209s (+ 0.637s)
8. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin 1m11.417s (+ 0.845s)
9. Pipo Derani Double R 1m11.424s (+ 0.852s)
10. Marko Asmer Double R 1m11.492s (+ 0.920s)
11. Kimiya Sato Motopark 1m11.725s (+ 1.153s)
12. Carlos Huertas Carlin 1m12.081s (+ 1.509s)
13. Richard Bradley Carlin 1m12.198s (+ 1.626s)
