Just 0.002 seconds separated the top two in the first qualifying session of the weekend at the Norisring on Friday, but Jake Hughes admitted he was surprised to even be in with a chance of taking pole position.
The Hitech Grand Prix driver had struggled during practice earlier in the day, but the changes made to his car saw him become competitive, and ultimately he was able to grab his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship pole with a lap of 48.231 seconds, ahead of Lando Norris.
Hughes admits that the start of his season has not been as he would have liked, but after a strong weekend last time out at the Hungaroring, he hopes to build on those results this weekend in Germany, and by starting from pole position he has put himself in a great position to do so.
“It was a great qualifying,” admitted Hughes. “In free practice, we were still having a few issues and we were lacking pace. As we were four to five tenths of a second down on the front-runners, I didn’t expect to be in contention for pole position in qualifying.
“After free practice, we made a lot of changes on the car and all of a sudden, things went really well. Since the start of the year, I have been waiting to score such a result. At Budapest, it was going pretty well already and I am very happy that we were able to improve even more.
“Everybody knows that the start of the season wasn’t as we wanted it, so claiming pole position here now is even more beautiful.”
