Pietro Fittipaldi took his maiden pole position in the World Series Formula V8 3.5 championship in a damp qualifying session at Silverstone on Friday afternoon.
A rain shower just before the session was set to get underway meant conditions were tricky for all, with Giuseppe Cipriani spinning at Stowe before being able to set a competitive lap time. He got back onto track, but was unable to get a relative lap time during the session.
Fittipaldi had no such issues, and hit the front late in the session as conditions improved markedly, leading a Lotus 1-2 ahead of team-mate Rene Binder, with 0.235 seconds separating the duo.
Egor Orudzhev was the first to switch to dry tyres and for a long time was leading the pack for SMP Racing by AVF, but ultimately dropped to third at the chequered flag, 0.321 seconds down on Fittipaldi but 0.170 seconds clear of team-mate Matevos Isaakyan in fourth.
Alfonso Celis Jr and Diego Menchaca continued the two-by-two formation in fifth and sixth for Fortec Motorsports, with Roy Nissany seventh for RP Motorsport.
Konstantin Tereschenko was an early pacesetter but dropped to eighth by the chequered flag for Teo Martin Motorsport, who only ran one car during the session as issues with Nelson Mason’s racing licence denying the Canadian the opportunity to take to the track.
Damiano Fioravanti will start ninth for Il Barone Rampante on his series debut, with Yu Kanamaru the final driver to set a representative lap time for RP Motorsport despite suffering with illness that forced him to miss the second collective test session early earlier in the day.
Silverstone Race 1 Qualifying Result
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