FV8 3.5: Vaxiviere secures second Silverstone pole

Matthieu Vaxiviere was again in command during Formula V8 3.5 qualifying at Silverstone, taking his second pole position of the weekend on Sunday.

The SMP Racing driver edged out race one winner Roy Nissany by 0.013 seconds in the second qualifying session, thanks to a final lap effort of 1m40.836s.

Arden Motorsport's Egor Orudzhev improved from fifth fastest on his first set of tires to briefly hold provisional pole as the half hour session entered its final minute. But the Russian was demoted by Vaxiviere's and Nissany's late advancements, and will instead start from third.

Orudzhev, who cut a despondent figure on Saturday after a clash with Nissany forced him to retire from the lead, will therefore line-up behind his race one adversary.

"I made a couple of small mistakes on my best lap, but we know we have top three pace at every race," said Orudzhev. "In race one, I felt Roy was a little too aggressive considering it wasn't the last lap or anything.

"I couldn't actually see him in my mirrors as I was already in the corner, but I know for next time to be a little bit more careful with him."

Lotus underlined its strong Silverstone form, with Nissany's front row start backed up by teammate Rene Binder, who qualified fourth.

Aurelien Panis had an early lap time deleted for a track limits violation at Copse, but the penalty failed to disrupt the Frenchman's progress and the Motorland winner will line up in fifth for Sunday afternoon's race.

Championship leader Tom Dillmann was uncharacteristically down in 10th after his used tore run at the session's mid-way stage. The AVF Formula racer recovered to claim sixth later on with a second run, and will start ahead of Le Castellet victor Louis Deletraz, who struggled with a long brake pedal in race one.

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

Originally on Autosport.com