Championship contender Renger van der Zande stole a march on his rivals today in qualifying for round 17 of the 2🎃009 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at the Algarve circuit in Portugal, the Dutch driver bagging pole position by a margin of more than a tenth.

"That was my best-ever qualifying lap, I think," said the Mercedes-powered Hitech Racing pilot. "Max Chilton was quick early on in the session and I did n✃ot think I could get close to his time - maybe the track was quicker earlier.

"But tꦓhen I got a fantas𝔍tic tow from [ART's] Roberto Mehri around the whole lap and got the pole."

Chilton will start se🧜cond, with F3 Euro Series points' leader Jules Bianchi third and quickest of the seven invitational class drivers.

Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile posted fourth-best time in his Carli🐎n Motorsport Dallara-Volkswagen, with the other man in the championship title hunt, Austrian Walter Grubmuller, only 13th fastest for Hiꦿtech Racing.

The leading Natiꦏonal Class runner was T-Sport's 🎐Gabriel Dias, the Brazilian two-tenths ahead of his British rival for the class crown, Daniel McKenzie.

The Litespeed team struck trouble: Victor Correa was unable to take part due to a shortage of driveshafts for hi💦s SLC R1, while his team-mate Adil Hermanto suffered a suspected gearbox failure. The team hopes that both cars will be repaired in time for tomorrow's races.