GP3: Lynn champion as Kirchhofer gets Abu Dhabi pole

Alex Lynn became the GP3 Series champion after his only title rival Dean Stoneman failed to take the Abu Dhabi pole position necessary to keep him in contention.

Stoneman was second fastest around the Yas Marina circuit, but like everyone else he had no answer to the pace of Marvin Kirchhofer, the German taking pole by 0.471 seconds in his ART Grand Prix car.

Kirchhofer led Stoneman after the field had made their first runs, and it was Dino Zamparelli who was the first to lower the poletime on the second runs. That time was quickly beaten by Lynn and then Emil Bernstorff before Kirchhofer put in his final effort.

Stoneman then moved up to second place in his Koiranen GP car and set a purple time in sector one as he made one last-ditch bid for pole, only to lose time later in the lap.

Bernstorff and the triumphant Lynn made it an all-Carlin second row, while Zamparelli's ART machine fell back to fifth, just ahead of Koiranen runner Jimmy Eriksson.

Alex Fontana (ART) and Patric Niederhauser (Arden) share an all-Swiss fourth row, with Status GP pairing Nick Yelloly and Richie Stanaway rounding out the top 10.