Qualifying at Norisring a close affair…

Track: Norisring
Pole position race 1: Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport)
Pole position race 2: Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam)
Pole position race 3: Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam)
Temperature air / track: 27.6 – 29.1 °C / 26.9 – 26.0 °C
Weather: sunny, warm

After the six weeks’ summer break, the battle for the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title between Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) and Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) continues. At the 2.3 kilometres long Norisring, the Swede claimed pole position for the first race of the weekend while the Italian secured himself the best starting grid positions for the second and third race. In first qualifying, Marciello followed behind Rosenqvist. For the second race at Norisring, Marciello will be joined on the front row by his team-mate Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam), while Marciello and Rosenqvist will be together on the front row of the grid for the third race. 

Starting grid for race 1
Felix Rosenqvist (0:48.997 minutes) claimed pole position for the first race of the sixth season weekend. Only a few seconds before the end of qualifying, the Swede moved up to the top of the timesheets, where Raffaele Marciello (0:48.998 minutes) had been before. The margin between the two front runners, who are also the main title candidates halfway through the season of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, was only one thousandth of a second. Félix Serrallés (Fortec Motorsports, 0:48.999 minutes) ended up third from Alex Lynn (0:49.004 minutes). The lap times of all the four front runners were within only 0.007 seconds. Alexander Sims (Threebond with T-Sport, 0:49.027 minutes) ended up fifth for his Formula 3 comeback from Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam, 0:49.095 minutes).

Starting grid for race 2
In the ranking of the second-fastest laps to determine the starting grid positions for the second race, Raffaele Marciello (0:49.016 minutes) came out on top. The Italian, who is backed by the Ferrari Driver Academy and came to Nuremberg as the points’ leader in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, toppled his team mate Alex Lynn (0:49.090 minutes), who came second. Felix Rosenqvist (0:49.149 minutes), Alexander Sims (0:49.158 minutes), Félix Serrallés (0:49.175 minutes) and Harry Tincknell (Carlin, 0:49.254 minutes) rounded out the first six positions.

Starting grid for race 3
In second qualifying, Raffaele Marciello (0:48.567 minutes) came to the fore with a few minutes remaining and successfully defended his position. He was 0.194 seconds faster than second-placed Felix Rosenqvist (0:48.761 minutes), who only moved up from the back of the field to the top end of the time sheets in the final two minutes of the session. Alex Lynn (0:48.797 minutes), Tom Blomqvist (Eurointernational, 0:48.860 minutes), Lucas Auer (0:48.891 minutes) and Alexander Sims (0:48.931 minutes) followed suit.

Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport)
“First qualifying was even worse than the second one, but I still managed to claim pole. I had a little bit of luck and I pushed really hard in the closing stages. In second qualifying, I had more bad luck, because I didn’t find a slipstream. Generally, I am happy with my performance, because actually, I don’t like this track. The races here will not be easy: one has to be clever and not make any mistakes.”

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam)
“First qualifying was really close. I had a slipstream and a really good car, too. In second qualifying, things went really well for me. I think, it could hardly have been better. I came to Nuremberg with high expectations, I should be at least on the podium in all of the three races. I like the track and I was already quick here last year. Good conditions for the race weekend.”