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Imola European F3: Lotus F1 junior Esteban Ocon takes pole

Lotus F1 junior Esteban Ocon made a giant stride towards wrapping up the Formula 3 European Championship by topping qualifying for the first race of the weekend at Imola

Twelve months on from his first F3 test at the same venue with Prema Powerteam, Ocon emerged from a battle for pole with Antonio Giovinazzi, and was just under a tenth of a second to the good when the session was red-flagged for a second time with slightly over two minutes remaining.

Only a handful of runners managed to get around the circuit to start a flying lap before the chequered flag flew: one of them was Ocon, and he shaved another few hundredths off his previous best.

"It was good to back into the F3 car with a two-day test this week," said Ocon, who has contested two Formula Renault 3.5 events since the last F3 round.

"We struggled a bit at the beginning, but after two days we were quite OK. We improved quite a lot in free practice this morning, and now the car is as fantastic as it was at Moscow Raceway [where Ocon won all three races]."

Of his best lap, Ocon said: "I just took it really easy."

Giovinazzi will not join Ocon on the front row as he has to serve a three-place grid penalty so Jordan King - who leapt from ninth on his one-lap dash after the final red flag - moves up to second on the grid.

Max Verstappen was disappointed to take fifth, feeling that he did not get a perfect lap and that the balance of his Van Amersfoort Racing car had dropped slightly.

He will start 15th, as he has two 10-place grid penalties hanging over him as a result of his engine change last time out at the Nurburgring.

Felix Rosenqvist completed the top six with Mucke Motorsport, from Jake Dennis (Carlin) and free practice pacesetter Antonio Fuoco - Prema's Ferrari protege was on laps that would have put him at least in the top three on both occasions when the red flags appeared.

Lucas Auer and Nicholas Latifi completed the top 10, while Sean Gelael moves into 10th spot thanks to Verstappen's penalty.

The first red flag was caused when Gelael was caught out by a slowing Verstappen at the Villeneuve chicane, got into a tankslapper and smacked the barriers. The second was occasioned by an off for Alexander Toril after Rivazza.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Esteban Ocon Prema Powerteam 1m36.479s - 12
2 Antonio Giovinazzi Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m36.611s 0.132s 12
3 Jordan King Carlin 1m36.890s 0.411s 13
4 Tom Blomqvist Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m36.973s 0.494s 11
5 Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Racing 1m37.006s 0.527s 11
6 Felix Rosenqvist KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport 1m37.016s 0.537s 12
7 Jake Dennis Carlin 1m37.031s 0.552s 12
8 Antonio Fuoco Prema Powerteam 1m37.125s 0.646s 12
9 Lucas Auer KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport 1m37.147s 0.668s 12
10 Nicholas Latifi Prema Powerteam 1m37.187s 0.708s 12
11 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m37.375s 0.896s 7
12 Dennis van de Laar Prema Powerteam 1m37.481s 1.002s 12
13 Felix Serralles Team West-Tec F3 1m37.491s 1.012s 10
14 Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Racing 1m37.564s 1.085s 12
15 Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Racing 1m37.592s 1.113s 11
16 Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Racing 1m37.659s 1.180s 11
17 William Buller Signature 1m37.679s 1.200s 11
18 Ed Jones Carlin 1m37.758s 1.279s 13
19 Nick Cassidy ThreeBond with T-Sport 1m37.775s 1.296s 12
20 Roy Nissany KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport 1m37.925s 1.446s 13
21 Alexander Toril ThreeBond with T-Sport 1m37.926s 1.447s 9
22 Richard Goddard ThreeBond with T-Sport 1m38.105s 1.626s 12
23 Santino Ferrucci Fortec Motorsports 1m38.363s 1.884s 12
24 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports 1m38.415s 1.936s 12
25 Sergio Sette Camara EuroInternational 1m38.609s 2.130s 11
26 Michele Beretta EuroInternational 1m38.825s 2.346s 11
27 Andy Chang Team West-Tec F3 1m39.292s 2.813s 12

*Giovinazzi has to serve three-place grid penalty

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