Dorian Boccolacci snatches last-gasp maiden GP3 pole to head French trio at Paul Ricard
Dorian Boccolacci left it late to claim his first-ever GP3 pole position, pipping championship leader Anthoine Hubert to the fastest time on home soil at Paul Ricard.
The Frenchman led the way at the mid-way stage of the session but an ever-changing order saw him fall down the field, until he returned to the top of the timesheets with a last-gasp effort to seal MP Motorsport’s first GP3 pole in the team’s second race in the series.
Dorian Boccolacci left it late to claim his first-ever GP3 pole position, pipping championship leader Anthoine Hubert to the fastest time on home soil at Paul Ricard.
The Frenchman led the way at the mid-way stage of the session but an ever-changing order saw him fall down the field, until he returned to the top of the timesheets with a last-gasp effort to seal MP Motorsport’s first GP3 pole in the team’s second race in the series.
Boccolacci’s lap time of a 1m50.615s saw him usurp fellow countryman and practice pacesetter Hubert by just 0.082s, while Giuliano Alesi made was left to rue a late mistake as he encountered traffic in the final sector and ended up third-quickest, with 0.093s splitting the French trio.
Barcelona race one winner Nikita Mazepin was a further 0.2s off the pace as he set the fourth-fastest time in his ART Grand Prix machine, ahead of Campos’ Leonardo Pulcini, who claimed pole last time out in Spain.
Niko Kari was sixth and the second-highest MP Motorsport driver, edging ART's Callum Ilott by just 0.004s thanks to a late improvement, with Trident pair Alessio Lorandi and Pedro Piquet eighth and ninth respectively.
Arden’s Joey Mawson was 10th quickest in a strong showing for the Australian, while Renault F1 junior Christian Lungaard - replacing Will Palmer at MP Motorsport for a scheduled one-off round - impressed on his series debut and finished the session just 0.6s off pole.
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