F3 EURO CHAMPIONSHIP

Two further pole positions for Swede Rosenqvist

Season race: 11 and 12 of 33
Track: Monza
Pole position race 2: Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam)
Pole position race 3: Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam)
Weather: sunny and warm

For Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam), the Monza weekend continues in a successful way: having already claimed pole position in first qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, he was also unbeatable in second qualifying. The 23-year-old Swede, who also came out on top in the ranking of the second-fastest laps, thus claimed his sixth and seventh best qualifying times of the current season. At the 5.793 kilometres long Grand Prix circuit, second place went to Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing). Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) and Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam) followed in third and fourth place. In the ranking of the second-fastest lap times, used to determine the starting grid positions for the third race of the weekend, pace-setter Rosenqvist was followed by Leclerc, Giovinazzi and Dennis.

Starting grid race 2

There were plenty of changes out in front in the opening stages of qualifying, but towards the halfway point, Felix Rosenqvist (1:43.417 minutes) claimed the top spot. Later on, the Prema driver extended his lead more and more, only Charles Leclerc (1:43.577 minutes) came close to the Swede in the final stages. However, the 17-year-old Monegasque was unable to take first place away from the Swede, by six years his senior. There also was a battle for third place with Antionio Giovinazzi (1:43.707 minutes) and Jake Dennis (1:43.722 minutes). Eventually, the Italian just came out on top against the Brit. Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:43.812 minutes), Santino Ferrucci (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:43.968 minutes), Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam, 1:44.003 minutes) and Matt Solomon (Double R Racing, 1:44.016 minutes) followed behind Dennis. 20-year-old Danish driver Jensen and 19-year-old Solomon from Hong Kong both scored their best qualifying results to date in their maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship season. Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 1:44.029 minutes) and Markus Pommer (Motopark, 1:44.057 minutes) completed the top ten.

Starting grid race 3

Felix Rosenqvist (1:43.447 minutes) was also unbeatable in the ranking of the second-fastest lap times. Leclerc (1:43.587 minutes), Giovinazzi (1:43.900 minutes) and Dennis (1:43.936 minutes) secured second to fourth place, just like they had done in the ranking of the fastest lap times. This time, Ferrucci (1:43.997 minutes) beat his team-mate Jensen (1:44.027 minutes) in the duel for fifth place. Maïsano (1:44.132 minutes) and Pommer (1:44.138 minutes) followed in seventh and eigth place from Gustavo Menezes (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 1:44.178 minutes) and Maximilian Günther (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:44.227 minutes).

Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam): “It was slightly more difficult than in the first qualifying, because I had plenty of championship contenders behind me and I didn’t want to ruin their laps. I was able to do one clear lap without slipstream and then one with slipstream. Both laps were nearly identical and I had to admit that I couldn’t go any faster. Nice that it was enough to claim both pole positions.”