Some time after the first race of the day finished, Jamie Green has finally been confirmed as the poleman for this afternoon's Bahrain F3 Superprix.
The new Euroseries champion crossed the line first in the qualification race but, with the race being red-flagged two laps short of its scheduled ten-lap distance, was forced to wait while the stewards debated the final result. When the announcement came, however, the British driver was awarded the win - and subsequent pole for the 20-lap showpiece final - after coming home 3.357secs clear of second placed Fabio Carbone.
The Brazilian, who has plied his trade in Japan this season, chased Green to the line, having started one place behind the ASM driver, in third place. He, in turn, was followed by
Nico Rosberg, who climbed from sixth on the grid, and Marko Asmer, from fifth, who were two and four seconds further back.
All that, however, left no room for surprise polesitter Franck Perera, who suffered a nightmare race and tumbled down to 21st position by the time chequered flag made its premature appearance. From ending Thursday's qualifying day elated with his first F3 pole, the Frenchman now faces the main event from row eleven, where he will start alongside Prema Powerteam colleague Kohei Hirate.
While Perera was losing his head, other top ten starters gratefully accepted the odd place here and there, with Richard Antinucci the biggest beneficiary as he climbed from ninth on the grid to fifth by the flag. Despite being the cause of the red flag, when he spun and stalled in an awkward position, the American, who won last year's equivalent race in Korea, pushed impressive rookie Paul di Resta down to sixth, where he finished just ahead of new British F3 champion Nelson Piquet. Another Brazilian, Lucas di Grassi, took eighth place, not far being Piquet, with two Japanese series frontrunners,
Kazuki Nakajima and Ronnie Quintarelli rounding out the top ten.
