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Mikkel Jensen beats red flag to claim maiden F3 pole at Spa

by Peter Allen
written by Peter Allen
Mikkel Jensen

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Mikkel Jensen claimed his maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship pole position in qualifying two at Spa-Francorchamps, hitting the top just before the session was halted early.

Jake Dennis will start race three from pole position thanks to his second-fastest time, despite his best only being good enough for seventh.

There had been a red flag early in the session (which took place on a drying track and late into the evening after a strike by circuit workers), triggered by Alex Albon in sector two of his first flying lap.

After the restart, race one polesitter Felix Rosenqvist set the pace, with Prema team-mate Lance Stroll just one thousandth of a second slower.

A quick first sector than handed Stroll the lead after the next runs, with Jake Dennis creating a Prema 1-2-3 on both occasions.

The Prema trio then failed to improve on the next time around. Jensen did and climbed to fourth, before being demoted two spots by Santino Ferrucci and Dorian Boccolacci.

The fourth Prema driver Brandon Maisano took top spot away from his colleague Stroll with his next lap, only for Jensen to immediately better than effort by 0.079 seconds.

A second red flag was then triggered by Callum Ilott, denying those who had yet to complete their lap and with not enough time remaining for another restart.

That left Jensen on top ahead of Maisano, with Stroll and Rosenqvist forced to settle for places on row two.

Sam MacLeod and Pietro Fittipaldi got to improve before the stoppage, forcing Jake Dennis – on two personal best sectors before the red flag – down to seventh. Ferrucci, Boccolacci and Sergio Sette Camara completed the top 10.

Although Rosenqvist missed out on a lock-out of qualifying for the fourth time from five rounds this season, his title rivals Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc were left down in 12th and 13th, behind?Markus Pommer and just ahead of Ilott.

Leclerc had crossed the line with a time good enough to take third place but it came moments after the red flag, meaning the lap was soon deleted.

Despite Dennis’ failure to improve on his penultimate lap, that time was still 0.012s faster than Jensen had managed that time around, and so tops the second-fastest classification.

Maisano is third, while Pommer leaps up to fourth ahead of MacLeod and Fittipaldi. Rosenqvist heads Stroll on row four, with Camara and Ilott completing the top 10.

Leclerc was again 13th, and points leader Giovinazzi only 18th.

Qualifying results
Race two ? fastest times ? Race three ? second fastest times
Pos Driver Team Time Pos Driver Team Time
1 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport 2:13.707 1 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam 2:14.665
2 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam 2:13.786 2 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport 2:14.677
3 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam 2:14.072 3 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam 2:14.812
4 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam 2:14.175 4 Markus Pommer Motopark 2:14.950
5 Sam MacLeod Motopark 2:14.379 5 Sam MacLeod Motopark 2:15.061
6 Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports 2:14.482 6 Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports 2:15.219
7 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam 2:14.579 7 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam 2:15.606
8 Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport 2:14.584 8 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam 2:15.607
9 Dorian Boccolacci Signature 2:14.666 9 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark 2:15.631
10 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark 2:14.756 10 Callum Ilott Carlin 2:15.644
11 Markus Pommer Motopark 2:14.881 11 Gustavo Menezes Carlin 2:15.705
12 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin 2:15.061 12 Dorian Boccolacci Signature 2:15.799
13 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing 2:15.371 13 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing 2:16.107
14 Callum Ilott Carlin 2:15.495 14 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing 2:16.514
15 Gustavo Menezes Carlin 2:15.660 15 Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport 2:16.525
16 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports 2:15.954 16 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports 2:16.839
17 Ryan Tveter Carlin 2:16.058 17 Ryan Tveter Carlin 2:17.108
18 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport 2:16.082 18 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin 2:17.337
19 Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing 2:16.167 19 Julio Moreno T-Sport 2:17.361
20 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing 2:16.408 20 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports 2:17.487
21 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports 2:16.616 21 Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing 2:17.517
22 George Russell Carlin 2:16.770 22 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport 2:17.721
23 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing 2:17.045 23 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing 2:18.088
24 Julio Moreno T-Sport 2:17.245 24 Raoul Hyman West-Tec 2:18.132
25 Matt Solomon Double R Racing 2:17.427 25 George Russell Carlin 2:18.337
26 Raoul Hyman West-Tec 2:18.005 26 Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport 2:20.997
27 Fabian Schiller West-Tec 2:19.209 27 Fabian Schiller West-Tec 2:21.494
28 Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark 2:19.663 28 Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark 2:21.742
29 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport 2:19.840 29 Matt Solomon Double R Racing 2:21.778
30 Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport 2:20.601 30 Nabil Jeffri Motopark 2:21.783
31 Nabil Jeffri Motopark 2:20.801 31 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport 2:21.948
32 Tatiana Calderon Carlin 2:21.020 32 Tatiana Calderon Carlin 3:10.163
33 Alex Albon Signature No time 33 Alex Albon Signature No time