Lance Stroll secured his second pole position of the 2016 season as he topped Group B of the split-qualifying session around the streets of Pau on Friday.
The Canadian Prema Powerteam driver, a developmental driver with the Williams Formula 1 team this year after leaving the Ferrari Driver Academy, will start at the head of the field after setting a best time of 1m21.832s, the only driver across the two sessions to get beneath 1m22s.
Stroll will start alongside Group A pacesetter George Russell, with the Hitech GP driver having come out of a fantastic in-house duel at the front of the pack with team-mate Ben Barnicoat.
With Stroll setting the best time of the two sessions, everyone from Group B will line-up in the odd-numbered grid slots, meaning Nick Cassidy of Prema Powerteam will start the race third ahead of Barnicoat, who ended second in Group A.
Anthoine Hubert, the only Frenchman racing this weekend in Pau, will start fifth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of current championship leader Maximilian Günther in another of the Prema entries, while row four sees morning pacesetter Callum Ilott of Van Amersfoort Racing alongside the first of Motopark’s Red Bull-backed drivers Sergio Sette Camara.
The second Red Bull-backed Motopark driver Niko Kari will line up ninth, while Ryan Tveter completes the top ten in the leading Carlin entry.
Pau Grand Prix Race 1 Qualifying Times
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