Ocon Takes Pole In Added Bahrain Round

As GP2 and GP3 head into their penultimate round they arrived in the setting of the Bahrain Circuit. Due to the German Grand Prix being dropped from the calendar the two series found themselves a race short of their usual season, so teamed up with the final round of WEC before they will head to Abu Dhabi for the final. Esteban Ocon took the advantage after qualifying today as he takes pole position for the first race tomorrow and the lead in the championship from Luca Ghiotto with his bonus four pole position points. After being quickest in Free Practice this morning Ocon looked to be on form to challenge championship rival Ghiotto.

The gap between the two was an impressive 0.504 seconds as the chequered flag fell. Ghiotto starts second beside Ocon for tomorrows race and will be looking to make the move on the Frenchman going into the first corner. Ghiotto has lead most of the season but Ocon has been slowly closing the gap. With a constant string of second place finishes Ocon has made sure that, as the season comes to an end, he is in with a shout.

It was Arden’s Emil Bernstorff that set the early pace in the session with a strong 1m47.806s. Sadly for Bernstorff, Ghiotto was on a mission to prove why he has lead most of the championship, taking the top spot with a time two tenths of a second quicker than Bernstorff. It looked to be Ghiotto’s session as no one seemed to be able to find the extra tenths. But when Russian racer Matevos Isaakyan caused a red flag after ten minutes (stopping at turn ten), the field seemed to be ready for the fight when the session restarted. Kevin Ceccon, ace in the second races, jumped to P2 only a tenth off of Ghiotto’s time.

The field all improved, with drivers jumping up the timesheets almost every lap. Marvin Kirchhöfer held provisional pole in the closing moments, but it was the closing moments where everyone grabbed the extra thousandths of a second. Alex Palou demoted Kirchhöfer by 0.041s before Ocon set an untouchable 1m46.684. Ghiotto looked to have been demoted to third as Ceccon improved to a 1m47.197 for P2, but as the flag fell Ghiotto went faster by a mere 0.009s, leaving Ceccon in P3.

Title rivals Ocon and Ghiotto start side by side for tomorrow’s race, with Ceccon, Palou, Kirchhöfer, Janosz, Bernstorff, Mardenborough, Eriksson and Fuoco finishing the top ten. Race One starts at 10:15am GMT time, when we will be back to give you a full report of race one and whether Ocon can hold the small championship lead gained today.

(Image: www.gp3series.com)

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