Marcus Ericsson has secured his first pole position in the British F3 International Series after the reigning Formula
BMW UK champion stormed to the quickest time in qualifying for round three of the season at
Croft.
With the North East circuit being damp when the session kicked off, a number of drivers elected to start qualifying on wet tyres but it was quickly apparent that the circuit was dry enough for slicks.
The early part of the session saw National Class runner Andy Meyrick top the times and with a third of the 30 minutes run, the Carlin man was still the man to beat despite a number of the International Class runners starting to set representative lap-times.
Among those runners was reigning National Class champion Sergio Perez who then went quickest in the T-Sport Dallara Mugen-Honda to break the 1min 13sec marker but the quick laps were then halted when Henry Arundel suffered a spin at the final turn and brought out the yellow flags. The Double R man was unable to continue in the session and will line up at the back of the grid as a result.
Once Arundel's car was removed from the circuit, the quick laps continued with Perez out front from the Mygale of Esteban Guerrieri and Carlin's Brendon Hartley. Ericsson lay fourth with Oliver Turvey completing the top five.
Seemingly feeling the job was done, Perez returned to the pits and climbed from his car but with seven minutes remaining, Ericsson jumped to the top of the times and then improved his quickest lap still further to take pole from his Mexican rival by 0.134secs.
Behind the top two, Seb Hohenthal continued his solid
Oulton Park form to secure third on the grid ahead of the Ultimate pairing of Michael Devaney and Guerrieri. Hartley and Turvey then took sixth and seventh while Ricardo Teixeira ensured all three Ultimate Mygales will be inside the top eight by securing eighth. Sam Abay and Ericsson's championship co-leader Jaime Alguersuari rounded out the top ten.
