Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist took his first pole position of the 2014 FIA European Formula 3 Championship season in one of the closest qualifying sessions of the season at the Norisring in Germany. The Mücke Motorsport driver took top spot by 0.003s from current championship leader Esteban Ocon, while the Prema Powerteam driver was only a further 0.008s ahead of third placed Max Verstappen of Van Amersfoort Racing.
Rosenqvist snatched pole position right at the end of the session after finally getting the last corner right, something he had struggled with for the majority of the weekend. On a track he openly admits to not being amongst his favourites, he was able to take the top spot from Ocon.
The Frenchman himself had been languishing down amongst the midfield runners for a lot of the session before propelling himself up the order, and beat Verstappen’s time to take second.
Tom Blomqvist will start the first race of the weekend alongside Verstappen on row two for Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, while row three will be two of Rosenqvist’s Mücke Motorsport team-mates – Lucas Auer and Roy Nissany.
Jake Dennis was the leading Carlin driver in seventh, ahead of one of the stars of last weekend in Belgium Gustavo Menezes of Van Amersfoort Racing in eighth. Mitchell Gilbert returned to form after a disappointing Spa weekend to qualify ninth for Fortec Motorsports, with Jordan King of Carlin completing the top ten.
The session was extremely tight, with hundredths and indeed thousandths of a second separating drivers up and down the field. The top twenty-five out of twenty-six qualified within one second of each other.
Norisring Race 1 Qualifying Times
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
1 | Felix Rosenqvist | SWE | Mücke Motorsport | 48.082 |
2 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Prema Powerteam | 48.085 |
3 | Max Verstappen | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | 48.093 |
4 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 48.262 |
5 | Lucas Auer | AUT | Mücke Motorsport | 48.321 |
6 | Roy Nissany | ISR | Mücke Motorsport | 48.432 |
7 | Jake Dennis | GBR | Carlin | 48.437 |
8 | Gustavo Menezes | USA | Van Amersfoort Racing | 48.439 |
9 | Mitchell Gilbert | AUS | Fortec Motorsports | 48.466 |
10 | Jordan King | GBR | Carlin | 48.470 |
11 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Prema Powerteam | 48.489 |
12 | Jules Szymkowiak | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | 48.495 |
13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 48.509 |
14 | Antonio Fuoco | ITA | Prema Powerteam | 48.576 |
15 | Richard Goddard | AUS | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 48.646 |
16 | Felix Serralles | PUE | Team West-Tec F3 | 48.650 |
17 | Tatiana Calderon | COL | Jo Zeller Racing | 48.704 |
18 | Sean Galael | INO | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 48.797 |
19 | Dennis van de Laar | NED | Prema Powerteam | 48.835 |
20 | Santino Ferrucci | USA | EuroInternational | 48.838 |
21 | Michele Beretta | ITA | EuroInternational | 48.858 |
22 | Felipe Guimaraes | BRZ | Double R Racing | 48.903 |
23 | Sandro Zeller | SWI | Jo Zeller Racing | 48.955 |
24 | Alexander Toril | ESP | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 48.979 |
25 | John Bryant-Meisner | SWE | Fortec Motorsports | 49.051 |
26 | Hector Hurst | GBR | Team West-Tec F3 | 49.342 |