Pole for di Resta.

Manor Motorsport's Paul di Resta secured pole position on the grid for the 18th round of the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series season, his third pole of the year.

Newly crowned champion Lewis Hamilton for the ASM squad was the next fastest to qualify second, at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, with Franck Perera for the Prema Powerteam, Dallara-Opel, and di Resta's team-mate Lucas di Grassi finishing third and fourth respectively.

"It's nice to be the pole-sitter on the grid for the Sunday race," said a happy di Resta afterwards. "My car was even better than in the free practice session, it was really great. There was only one problem: to find a free lap."

The qualifying session for the 18th round of the Formula 3 Euro Series season, held at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, had to be red-flagged twice. At halftime of the session, ?tila Abreu spun off track and stranded in the gravel, thus causing the first red-flag situation.

And with just two more minutes to go, Abreu collided with his compatriot, Lucas di Grassi - and again the session was red-flagged. As there were just these two minutes to go, the race control decided to do without restarting the session.

Up to the sudden end of the session, Paul di Resta and Lewis Hamilton were involved in a thrilling battle for pole position. Again and again, they stole each other provisional pole, but at the end of the day, di Resta got the upper hand.

Due to the red flags Hamilton, couldn't strike back and had to settle for second position on the grid. "I'm happy with second position on the grid. I wouldn't say that Paul was invincible, maybe he was just the luckier of us," said Hamilton. "He set his fastest lap later than me, thus benefiting from better track conditions. But I'm happy that my previous team, Manor Motorsport, succeeded in securing the pole. Furthermore, Paul is a good racing driver, particularly in the wet."