Carroll spoils Lola's day.

by Paul Rayner

Adam Carroll was the only thing that came between Danny Watts and his second pole of the day, pipping the Promatecme driver by just 14 thousandths of a second in the final minute of Castle Combe qualifying.

Watts was in control of the session from early on, hitting the top before first Ernesto Viso, then Alvaro Parente, went faster. Parente was to end the session third, Viso fourth, but not before the pair had swapped places a few times.

The Scholarship Class battle ended early on, with Ryan Lewis yet again getting the class pole, even though he only competed for seven minutes before pulling off. Stephen Jelley was second in the class which has halved in size since the last meeting, with Vasilije Calasan the last runner, third in class.

Watts got back ahead of the two South Americans with a lap of 59.004 seconds, before becoming the first Formula 3 driver ever to break the 59-second barrier. With a lap of 58.979, a whole tenth quicker than second place, he seemed to have the position wrapped up, but then with just a minute left on the clock Adam Carroll sneaked ahead of the Lola-Dome driver.

Elsewhere, James Rossiter improved as he learnt the 1.85-mile circuit, moving up from tenth to fifth in the final minutes, while championship leader Nelson Piquet Junior could only manage ninth, after tenth in the first session.

Top ten qualifiers Rd 12
1. Adam Carroll
2. Danny Watts
3. Alvaro Parente
4. Ernesto Viso
5. James Rossiter
6. Clivio Piccione
7. Lucas di Grassi
8. Will Power
9. Nelson A Piquet
10. Karun Chandhok