Home News FR3.5 leader Sainz claims pole for first race at Paul Ricard

FR3.5 leader Sainz claims pole for first race at Paul Ricard

by Peter Allen
Carlos Sainz

Photo: GEPA pictures/Dutch Photo Agency/Sebastiaan Rozendaal

Carlos Sainz delivered the perfect response to the narrowing of his Formula Renault 3.5 points lead by taking pole position for the first race of the penultimate round at Paul Ricard.

Sainz, who saw his standings margin come down to 16 points a fortnight ago at the Hungaroring, set a time of 1m47.436s with a few minutes left in the session to claim top spot.

His greatest threat at the end came from his Red Bull Junior Team stable-mate Pierre Gasly. On home soil, the Frenchman closed to within 0.062s of Sainz and then, after the chequered flag, improved in the first two sectors but lost time in the last and had to settle for second place.

Gasly’s fellow Frenchman Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed P3, three tenths of a second behind the Red Bull duo. Another tenth back in fourth was Sainz’s closest championship rival Roberto Merhi.

Sergey Sirotkin was fifth as the best Fortec driver, ahead of AVF’s Zoel Amberg and Friday pace-setter Marlon Stockinger. Sirotkin’s team-mate Oliver Rowland ended up back in eighth having led for 15 minutes in the middle of the session. Jazeman Jaafar and Marco Sorensen completed the top ten.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Carlos Sainz DAMS 1:47.436 13
2 Pierre Gasly Arden Motorsport 1:47.498 0.062 14
3 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1:47.784 0.348 13
4 Roberto Merhi Zeta Corse 1:47.879 0.443 12
5 Sergey Sirotkin Fortec Motorsports 1:47.950 0.514 14
6 Zoel Amberg AVF 1:47.976 0.540 12
7 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 1:48.068 0.632 13
8 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1:48.106 0.670 13
9 Jazeman Jaafar ISR 1:48.182 0.746 12
10 Marco Sorensen Tech 1 Racing 1:48.208 0.772 12
11 Luca Ghiotto International Draco Racing 1:48.255 0.819 13
12 Will Stevens Strakka Racing 1:48.275 0.839 14
13 Esteban Ocon Comtec Racing 1:48.298 0.862 13
14 Matias Laine Strakka Racing 1:48.352 0.916 13
15 Nicholas Latifi Tech 1 Racing 1:48.434 0.998 13
16 Will Buller Arden Motorsport 1:48.458 1.022 12
17 Norman Nato DAMS 1:48.505 1.069 14
18 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1:48.551 1.115 13
19 Beitske Visser AVF 1:48.566 1.130 12
20 Meindert van Buuren Pons Racing 1:48.647 1.211 12
21 Oscar Tunjo Pons Racing 1:48.698 1.262 12
22 Cameron Twynham Comtec Racing 1:49.086 1.650 13