Home Z - Archive seriesFIA European F3 Rosenqvist claims pole in disrupted first qualifying at Hockenheim

Rosenqvist claims pole in disrupted first qualifying at Hockenheim

by Peter Allen
Felix Rosenqvist

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Felix Rosenqvist claimed pole position for the first race of the second FIA F3 European Championship round at Hockenheim in first qualifying on Thursday afternoon that was twice red-flagged.

A veteran of 26 F3 races at the German circuit, Rosenqvist followed up his free practice performance that saw him top both sessions to claim pole late in qualifying with a time of 1m32.455s.

Championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi improved his time soon afterwards to take second, but fell 14 thousandths of a second short of pole.

He was improving again on his next lap when Carlin team-mate Tatiana Calderon caused a premature end to the session.

After a mid-session red flag triggered by an off for Alex Albon, Maximilian Gunther had taken top spot, and although the German rookie was briefly displaced by Raoul Hyman, he reclaimed provisional pole and held it until Rosenqvist’s flyer.

He finished up third ahead of Charles Leclerc, who had taken a turn in P1 just before the red flag but had his time deleted.

Rosenqvist’s three Prema team-mates filled the rest of the top seven, with Lance Stroll in fifth ahead of Jake Dennis and Brandon Maisano.

Hyman finished up eighth to back up his strong practice showing, while the top 10 was completed by Red Bull Junior Callum Ilott and German F3 champion Markus Pommer.

Silverstone race winner George Russell was the most notable driver further down the order, finishing a lowly 20th, while Albon ended up 35th and last having not been able to set a representative time.

Qualifying results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam 1:32.455 7
2 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin 1:32.469 0.014 9
3 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport 1:32.609 0.154 10
4 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing 1:32.845 0.390 9
5 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam 1:32.916 0.461 7
6 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam 1:32.960 0.505 11
7 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam 1:32.997 0.542 11
8 Raoul Hyman West-Tec 1:33.037 0.582 9
9 Callum Ilott Carlin 1:33.102 0.647 10
10 Markus Pommer Motopark 1:33.133 0.678 8
11 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark 1:33.158 0.703 9
12 Gustavo Menezes Carlin 1:33.187 0.732 9
13 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing 1:33.218 0.763 8
14 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport 1:33.281 0.826 10
15 Sam MacLeod Motopark 1:33.283 0.828 8
16 Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport 1:33.409 0.954 9
17 Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport 1:33.426 0.971 9
18 Nicolas Beer Eurointernational 1:33.435 0.980 11
19 Ryan Tveter Carlin 1:33.455 1.000 9
20 George Russell Carlin 1:33.463 1.008 9
21 Julio Moreno T-Sport 1:33.517 1.062 11
22 Matt Solomon Double R Racing 1:33.643 1.188 9
23 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing 1:33.695 1.240 9
24 Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports 1:33.816 1.361 10
25 Dorian Boccolacci Signature 1:33.835 1.380 9
26 Nabil Jeffri Motopark 1:33.901 1.446 10
27 Fabian Schiller West-Tec 1:34.034 1.579 9
28 Tatiana Calderon Carlin 1:34.170 1.715 8
29 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports 1:34.214 1.759 11
30 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports 1:34.238 1.783 11
31 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport 1:34.318 1.863 9
32 Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark 1:34.551 2.096 10
33 Peter Li Fortec Motorsports 1:34.929 2.474 11
34 Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing 1:35.424 2.969 10
35 Alex Albon Signature 1:41.693 9.238 2