Newly crowned GP3 Series champion George Russell will start from pole position for the Yas Marina Feature Race tomorrow.
This also means the Briton’s ART Grand Prix squad have claimed a clean sweep of the qualifying sessions this year.
Much of the session was lead by Macau Grand Prix winner Daniel Ticktum but the Brit was ultimately pushed down the order by Arden International pair Leonardo Pulcini and fellow Red Bull Junior Niko Kari.
In the final minutes the top spot rapidly changed hands as Jenzer Motorsport‘s Arjun Maini and then Pulcini deposed Ticktum.
High off of his Formula 1 outing just before the session, Russell then claimed the top spot with three minutes remaining as Ticktum put in an effort that placed him just 0.008 seconds behind the Mercedes junior.
While Russell was able to keep extending his advantage out front, Ticktum faded in the final sector and ended up being pipped by Kari and Pulcini who had bettered Russell’s previous best before the champion went quicker once again.
Maini finished fifth ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi, who has seized the opportunity to claim second in the championship standings from Jack Aitken as his team-mate could only muster fifteenth on the grid.
Dorian Boccolacci was seventh, ahead of Raoul Hyman and Anthoine Hubert with Alessio Lorandi completing the top ten.
The Feature Race gets underway at 12.25 local time tomorrow.
2017 GP3 Series Qualifying Results – Yas Marina
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