Callum Ilott and Lance Stroll claimed pole positions for the races of this FIA Formula 3 week-end at Red Bull Ring. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver will start the first race from pole while the Prema Powerteam Canadian takes pole for the last two races.
Second consecutive week-end of Formula 3 after the Grand Prix de Pau last week, F3 teams settle at Red Bull Ring, in Austria for their first race as DTM support series of the season. Alessio Lorandi, the winner of the Pau Grand Prix, gets a new teammate in the name of Wiron Tan, taking Raoul Hyman’s place left empty in Carlin since Hungary.
In the first practice session, the drivers could discover the new asphalt which allowed them to run much quickly than last year despite the high temperatures of last year. Lance Stroll went fastest ahead of his teammate Maximilian Günther, respecting the championship order. In second practice, the Motopark cars of Joel Eriksson and Sergio Sette Camara went fastest but did not beat the Canadian’s time.
If the first results of Q1 gave Joel Eriksson his first pole, his time was quickly taken out for exceeding track limits, offering pole position to Günther. But surprisingly, four hours after the session, Günther got his laptime deleted for ignoring yellow flags. In his misfortune, the German driver benefitted of a very fast second fastest lap to stay on the front row, but he will start behind Callum Ilott who claims his first pole position in Formula 3. He is followed on the grid by Günther, Barnicoat, Stroll and Jensen.
In Q2, nothing could threaten Lance Stroll from taking double pole for race 2 and 3, not even Callum Ilott who challenged him until the end and who will start third and second. George Russell asserts himself as title contender with a fastest time two thousandths away from Stroll. He will start race 2 in second place and race 3 in sixth place.
But the most impressive was to come from the rookie. Indeed, David Beckmann, for his second race week-end in F3, confessed to FormulaRapida.net he was very easy on this track. He will start in third row for the two last race of the week-end. Good job as well from Niko Kari, starting fourth for both races, despite the engine problems he suffered of this morning.
FormulaRapida.net, in the name of Arnau Viñals, is present at Spielberg to keep you informed about how the races will go tomorrow and on Sunday.