Leonardo Pulcini started the season in the best possible way by taking pole position for race one at Estoril on Saturday morning.
The Italian teenager had been strong all weekend during practice at the Portuguese circuit and he continued that form into qualifying, with Pulcini’s best time of 1m32.394s enough to the Campos Racing driver to top spot, 0.062s clear of RP Motorsport’s Jack Aitken.
2015 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and ALPS champion Aitken is making his series debut this weekend as a wildcard entry after securing a last minute deal with RP.
American youngster Colton Herta will start third on his and his Carlin teams debut in the EuroFormula Open championship, 0.241s back on Pulcini, while Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg will start fourth on the grid for the Drivex School team, a further 0.013s back on Herta.
Diego Menchaca was fifth for Campos Racing ahead of a quartet of RP Motorsport drivers led by Damiano Fioravanti, with the Italian’s team-mates Tanart Sathienthirakul, Antoni Ptak and Kantadhee Kusiri following, while Carlin’s Keyvan Andres completed the top ten.
Estoril Race 1 Qualifying Times
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Leonardo Pulcini | ITA | Campos Racing | 1m32.394s |
| 2 | 4 | Jack Aitken | GBR | RP Motorsport | 1m32.456s |
| 3 | 98 | Colton Herta | USA | Carlin | 1m32.635s |
| 4 | 62 | Ferdinand Habsburg | AUT | Drivex School | 1m32.648s |
| 5 | 7 | Diego Menchaca | MEX | Campos Racing | 1m32.839s |
| 6 | 3 | Damiano Fioravanti | ITA | RP Motorsport | 1m32.989s |
| 7 | 5 | Tanart Sathienthriakul | THA | RP Motorsport | 1m33.264s |
| 8 | 1 | Antoni Ptak | POL | RP Motorsport | 1m33.345s |
| 9 | 2 | Kusiri Kantadhee | THA | RP Motorsport | 1m33.377s |
| 10 | 47 | Keyvan Andres | GER | Carlin | 1m33.433s |
| 11 | 10 | Tatiana Calderon | COL | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m33.556s |
| 12 | 6 | Julio Moreno | ECU | Campos Racing | 1m33.595s |
| 13 | 37 | Igor Walilko | POL | Fortec Motorsports | 1m33.731s |
| 14 | 72 | Nikita Zlobin | RUS | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m33.731s |
| 15 | 11 | Petru Florescu | ROM | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m33.773s |
| 16 | 20 | Daniel Pronenko | RUS | BVM Racing | 1m33.812s |
| 17 | 27 | Kang Ling | CHN | DAV Racing | 1m33.863s |
| 18 | 18 | Daniele Cazzaniga | ITA | DAV Racing | 1m33.909s |
| 19 | 51 | Ameya Vaidyanathan | IND | Carlin | 1m34.040s |
| 20 | 21 | Ye Hongli | CHN | BVM Racing | 1m34.043s |
| 21 | 14 | Jose-Manuel Vilalta | MEX | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m34.958s |
| 22 | 9 | Gulhuseyn Abdullayeu | AZE | Campos Racing | 1m35.987s |
