Vainio snatches Hungary GP3 pole-290

A stunning late effort by Aaro Vainio earned the Koiranen driver pole position for Saturday's opening GP3 race in Hungary.

The session had been dominated by the ART cars of Conor Daly, Jack Harvey and Facu Regalia when the Finn produced his lap of 1m32.811s. Daly responded but fell 0.18 second short. In a frantic end to the session MW Arden's Daniil Kvyat set the third best time, while the pace of the Koiranen cars was demonstrated by Kevin Korjus being fourth fastest.

Harvey dropped to fifth, just ahead of fellow Brit Lewis Williamson in the Bamboo entry.

Melville McKee produced a strong showing to line up seventh for Bamboo, while Carlos Sainz Jr. dropped from third to eighth during the action-packed closing stages.

Title rivals Regalia and points leader Tio Ellinas will share the fifth row, with the ART car lining up ahead of the Cypriot's Marussia Manor entry.

Such was the strength of the field, the top 18 cars were covered by a second, boding well for an exciting race.