Photo: Eurocup-3
Mattia Colnaghi secured pole for Eurocup-3’s season opener at the Red Bull Ring following a series of impressive laps in the middle of the weekend’s first qualifying session.
The MP Motorsport driver, runner-up in Eurocup-3’s winter series two monthes ago, will line up alongside the FIA Formula 3-experienced Kacper Sztuka (Campos Racing) and Yani Stevenheydens (Global Racing Service).
Campos’s Red Bull juniors Jules Caranta and Enzo Tarnvanichkul set the early pace, then Colnaghi jumped to the top halfway through the 25-minute session with a 1m26.395s lap.
The Red Bull duo responded immediately. Caranta went sub-1m26s to reclaim top spot but his lap was deleted for track limits abuse, so Tarvanichkul then held first place.
That was only for a brief period though as Colnaghi was on a series of rapid laps. After going purple in different sectors, he hooked it all together with his 12th lap to demote Tarnvanichkul to second, then improved to 1m24.917s on the lap after that to nail down pole.
Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi was next to beat Tarnvanichkul, but was 0.75s slower than Colnaghi. Caranta then narrowed the poleman’s advantage to 0.359s, with MP’s Maciej Gladysz slotting into third.
With five minutes remaining, Sztuka became just the second driver to lap in the 1m24s and team-mate Ernesto Rivera went third fastest. Stevenheydens took that place from him with a 1m24.990s lap later on, as MP’s Valerio Rinicella qualified fifth.
Track limits abuse was common, as in free practice, with a total of 63 laptimes deleted. Eurocup-3 winter series champion Gladysz, team-mates Alexander Abkhazava and Juan Cota, and Campos’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and Francisco Macedo had all of their laptimes deleted so will start at the back of the grid.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 1m24.917s | 13 | |
| 2 | Kacper Sztuka | Campos Racing | 1m24.934s | +0.017s | 13 |
| 3 | Yani Stevenheydens | Global Racing Service | 1m24.990s | +0.073s | 13 |
| 4 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos Racing | 1m25.084s | +0.167s | 13 |
| 5 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | 1m25.185s | +0.268s | 14 |
| 6 | Garrett Berry | Sainteloc Racing | 1m25.224s | +0.307s | 13 |
| 7 | James Egozi | Palou Motorsport | 1m25.262s | +0.345s | 13 |
| 8 | Jules Caranta | Campos Racing | 1m25.276s | +0.359s | 14 |
| 9 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | 1m25.371s | +0.454s | 13 |
| 10 | Andres Cardenas | MP Motorsport | 1m25.440s | +0.523s | 13 |
| 11 | Oscar Wurz | Drivex School | 1m25.458s | +0.541s | 13 |
| 12 | Enzo Tarnvanichkul | Campos Racing | 1m25.477s | +0.560s | 13 |
| 13 | Luciano Morano | Palou Motorsport | 1m25.736s | +0.819s | 13 |
| 14 | Preston Lambert | Drivex School | 1m25.978s | +1.061s | 14 |
| 15 | Zack Scoular | Palou Motorsport | 1m26.095s | +1.178s | 13 |
| 16 | Lorenzo Castillo | Sainteloc Racing | 1m26.122s | +1.205s | 13 |
| 17 | Isaac Barashi | Palou Motorsport | 1m26.122s | +1.205s | 13 |
| 18 | Lenny Ried | Palou Motorsport | 1m26.167s | +1.250s | 13 |
| 19 | Wiktor Dobrzanski | Drivex School | 1m26.449s | +1.532s | 13 |
| 20 | Alceu Feldmann Neto | Palou Motorsport | 1m26.496s | +1.579s | 13 |
| 21 | Emil Hellberg | Allay Racing | 1m26.514s | +1.597s | 13 |
| 22 | Alessandro Famularo | Drivex School | 1m26.585s | +1.668s | 13 |
| 23 | Linus Hellberg | Allay Racing | 1m27.274s | +2.357s | 13 |
| 24 | Francisco Macedo | Campos Racing | no time | 13 | |
| 25 | Maciej Gladysz | MP Motorsport | no time | 14 | |
| 26 | Alexander Abkhazava | MP Motorsport | no time | 14 | |
| 27 | Jesse Carrasquedo Jr | Campos Racing | no time | 14 | |
| 28 | Juan Cota | MP Motorsport | no time | 13 |