Esteban
Ocon (Prema Powerteam, 1:36s479) secured himself a good position for
the battle for the title in first qualifying for the tenth FIA
Fórmula 3 European Championship race meeting. The Frenchman, a
protégé of the Lotus F1 team and the leader in the drivers’
standings, claimed pole position for the first race of the weekend at
the 4.909 kilometres long Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.
Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 1:36s611) secured
himself second place on the grid for his home race, ahead of the two
Brits Jordan King (Carlin, 1:36s890) and Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam
with Carlin, 1:36s973). Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing,
1:37s006), currently runner-up in the drivers’ standings and
already having made the step to Fórmula 1, had to make do with fifth
place.
Around
the halfway point, there was a duel for pole position involving
Italian Antonio Giovnazzi and Frenchman Esteban Ocon. They were the
two drivers to set lap times below 1:37 minutes. In the remainder of
the session, Tom Blomqvist closed up to them, but then a crash by
Sean Gelael (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 1:37s375) stopped the action
for a few minutes. At that time, Ocon was on top from Giovinazzi and
Blomqvist while Max Verstappen was skulking in fourth place.
Once the
session had been resumed, Felix Rosenqvist (Mücke Motorsport,
1:37s016) was the first driver who managed to improve his own lap
time. The Swedish stalwart moved up into fifth place. The final
attempts by the youngsters were briefly interrupted once again after
a crash by Alexander Toril (ThreeBond with T-Sport, 1:37s926).
After the
second restart, there were only 2:19 minutes remaining. In spite of
the little time that was left, Nicholas Latifi (Prema Powerteam,
1:37s187) and Jordan King still managed to improve. British driver
King even moved up to third place in the final seconds while Canadian
driver Latifi ended up tenth in qualifying. Between him and
sixth-placed Rosenqvist, Jake Dennis (Carlin, 1:37s031), Antonio
Fuoco (Prema Powerteam, 1:37s125) and Lucas Auer (Mücke Motorsport,
1:37s147) were seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
Esteban
Ocon (Prema Powerteam): “Qualifying was really good and my car was
great, too. In free practice, we worked very well and I am happy to
be back on top. The Imola circuit really suits me and as I am living
in Italy now this race also is something of a home round for me as
well. Starting from pole position for the first race of the weekend
is all the more beautiful because of this. However, I am not thinking
about a possible title win yet”.
Photos: FIA F3 Euro Series
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