Richard Verschoor took feature FIA F2 pole topping his group with Victor Martins alongside him, as Gabriele Mini took the top spot in F3.
F2:
GROUP A
The 11 even-numbered drivers headed out on to the track with 16 minutes on the clock looking to set their fastest times. After crossing the line to complete their first flying laps, it was ART driver Zak O’Sullivan who was the one to beat, with a 1:23.118 putting him P1. His time was over half a second quicker than his nearest rival in Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar.
The Briton continued to set the pace on his next effort, completing a lap of 1:22.202. On this occasion, the gap to second placed Verschoor was just 0.113s. As the first segment entered into the closing stages, green and purple colours lit up the timing screens as Verschoor went quickest with a 1:21.283 for Trident, a tenth ahead of Hadjar.
Gabriel Bortoleto was third for Invicta Racing, but he came on the radio to inform his Invicta Racing team that he had hit the wall in the swimming pool section. Luckily, he was able to continue on for the rest of the session. The drivers then set off on their final attempts, but despite their best efforts, no one could beat Verschoor’s time.
Hadjar remained in second while Franco Colapinto went up to third for MP Motorsport. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was one of the few drivers to improve on their final attempt and the PREMA Racing driver wound up in fourth ahead of Bortoleto in P5.
GROUP B
After a short break, the second set of 11 drivers headed out on to the track with Verschoor’s 1:21.283 their target time for Pole. As the drivers started their first flying laps, the Red Flags were waved early after Rafael Villagómez lost the rear of his Van Amersfoort Racing car on the entry to Turn 1, sending him straight into the barrier.
With the track clear, drivers left the pitlane with nine minutes left in the segment. They wasted no time going for their push laps and it was Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney who went to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:21.941, beating Martins’ time by over seven-tenths.
But Martins momentarily went back to the top of the leaderboard only for Roman Stanek’s 1:21.466 to put him ahead of the Frenchman. One final attempt was all there was time for, but Stanek’s hopes were dashed when he collided with the barrier in the second sector. Martins crossed the line to go fastest with a 1:21.310.
Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron was the last driver left to complete a lap and after going fastest in the first sector, he completed a 1:21.347 to go second in Group B. This left Verschoor on Pole Position ahead of Martins who joins the Dutch driver on the Feature Race front row. Hadjar wound up third ahead of Aron in fourth, while Colapinto ended up fifth ahead of Stanek in P6.
Antonelli qualified seventh ahead of Hauger in P8, Bortoleto finished up P9, while Taylor Barnard rounded out the top 10, thereby giving the AIX Racing driver reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Monte Carlo Qualifying session, three drivers have been handed post-session penalties. Firstly, Oliver Bearman has been given a three-place grid drop for impeding. Following the Qualifying session, the Stewards spoke with both drivers and their representatives and also reviewed video evidence, determining that the PREMA Racing driver had unnecessarily impeded Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí during a push lap.
Bearman is set to serve the penalty at the next race in which he competes. Secondly, DAMS Lucas Oil’s Juan Manuel Correa has been given a three-place grid penalty. After speaking with both drivers, their representatives and also reviewing video evidence, the Stewards determined that the DAMS Lucas Oil driver had unnecessarily impeded PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli during a push lap, earning him a three-place grid drop as a result.
Correa will serve the penalty at the next race in which he competes. Finally, Kush Maini has been awarded a three-place grid penalty for impeding. After examining video evidence as well as hearing from both of the drivers involved and their respective team representatives, the Stewards have also handed the Invicta Racing driver a three-place grid penalty after he was found to have impeded Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney during the session. Maini will serve the grid drop at the next race in which he competes in.
F3:
GROUP A –
The even-numbered cars hit the track first with Oliver Goethe of Campos Racing leading the first 15 runners out onto circuit. P2 in the Championship Luke Browning set the first benchmark to beat, laying down a 1:26.170 in his Hitech Pulse-Eight. That was bettered by Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli right away, as he put in a 1:25.963 in the Trident to take over at the top spot.
Browning went quicker as the track continued to improve, recording a 1:24.532 on his next effort to return to P1. Fornaroli couldn’t get back on terms as he filtered through half a second down on the Briton’s time in P2, while Mari Boya lifted himself up to third on his second lap in his Campos. With three minutes to go, Browning found more pace to bring the time to beat down to a 1:24.230. Having gone purple in sector one, Gabriele Minì moved up to P2 in the PREMA #2 car, 0.366s down on the fastest lap.
Under a minute left of Qualifying and Boya was pushing to the absolute limit and tagged the inside wall at Turn 15, undoing his effort having gone fastest in sector one. Browning had been up on his time and a fastest middle sector put him on course for an improvement. But exiting Turn 16 he tapped the wall, damaging his suspension and forcing him to abandon his lap, handing a chance to his rivals.
Minì obliged and set the provisional Pole time moments later on a 1:23.942, 0.288s quicker than Browning’s earlier time. Fornaroli wound up third behind the Hitech driver with Boya fourth in the group. Noel León was fifth for Van Amersfoort Racing and Laurens van Hoepen sixth for ART Grand Prix and in contention for reverse grid Pole.
GROUP B
After a short break, the odd-numbered half of the field ventured onto the circuit for the final part of Qualifying. Just as the first flying laps were about to get underway, the Jenzer Motorsport car of James Hedley went into the barriers at Turn 1, losing his front wing and bringing out the Red Flags.
Once the session resumed, it was Dino Beganovic that laid down the initial time to beat on a 1:25.569, 0.249s quicker than next-best Mansell in the ART. Further improvements from the PREMA duo of Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad took the pace down to a 1:24.9 in the Briton’s favour, until Mansell leapfrogged the pair with a 1:24.921.
Joseph Loake popped his Rodin Motorsport car up to P4 as the drivers began to push the limits further approaching the closing stages. Into the final two minutes of Qualifying and Lindblad went quickest of all in the first sector, while teammate Beganovic was purple in the middle sector. Just before the Swede could finish his lap, the Red Flags were out as Sebastián Montoya and Charlie Wurz were off at Turn 1, the latter into the barriers.
With less than a minute remaining, the session was not resumed leaving Minì as the Pole sitter for Sunday’s Feature Race. With the grid aggregated together, Mansell will be alongside him on the front row with Browning third and Lindblad fourth.
Fornaroli will line up fifth followed by Beganovic in P6 ahead of Boya in seventh. P8 for Loake represented his best F3 Qualifying result, along with León in ninth. Tim Tramnitz will line up in 10th for MP Motorsport ahead of ART teammates van Hoepen in P11 and Nikola Tsolov. The Bulgarian will start the Sprint Race from reverse grid Pole after ending up 12th overall.
[Note: The story is as per press release]