Adrian Quaife-Hobbs takes pole for Auto GP debut at Monza
GP3 graduate Adrian Quaife-Hobbs claimed pole position for his maiden Auto GP race at Monza
The Super Nova racer, who completed minimal pre-event testing, knocked Italian Formula 3 champion Sergio Campana off the top of the timing screens with five minutes of the half-hour session remaining.
Quaife-Hobbs later ran wide at the second Lesmo while attempting to defend his advantage, but his earlier effort of 1m36.603 sufficed to secure pole.
"In practice I felt confident," said Quaife-Hobbs. "There were always little mistakes or things I that could have done better on my fastest laps, so I knew there was more to come."
Friday morning pacesetter Sergey Sirotkin will join Quaife-Hobbs on the front row for Euronova. The Russian languished in the midfield for much of the session, before leaping up the order with a lap just 0.041 seconds shy of Quaife-Hobbs' benchmark effort.
Campana (MLR 71) would end the afternoon in third. The local racer moved into top spot a third of the way into the half session, before trading fastest times with Virtuosi UK's Pal Varhaug, who will share row two with him.
Manor MP Motorsport's experienced recruit Chris van der Drift returned to Europe from his native New Zealand earlier this week, but shrugged off the jetlag to claim a solid fifth on his Auto GP debut.
Van der Drift edged out Brazilian Victor Guerin (Super Nova) by less than 0.1s. Guerin set the initial qualifying pace, but ran straight through Monza's chicanes on a couple of occasions during an eventful session.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Super Nova 1m36.603s 2. Sergey Sirotkin Euronova 1m36.644s + 0.041s 3. Sergio Campana MLR71 1m36.748s + 0.145s 4. Pal Varhaug Virtuosi UK 1m36.941s + 0.338s 5. Chris van der Drift Manor MP 1m37.286s + 0.683s 6. Victor Guerin Super Nova 1m37.349s + 0.746s 7. Antonio Spavone Euronova 1m37.553s + 0.950s 8. Facu Regalia Campos 1m37.581s + 0.978s 9. Giacomo Ricci Zele 1m37.766s + 1.163s 10. Daniel de Jong Manor MP 1m37.862s + 1.259s 11. Adderly Fong Ombra 1m38.076s + 1.473s 12. Giuseppe Cipriani Campos 1m38.132s + 1.529s 13. Maxim Snegirev Campos 1m38.699s + 2.096s 14. Matteo Beretta Virtuosi UK 1m39.271s + 2.668s 15. Michele la Rosa MLR71 1m39.721s + 3.118s 16. Giancarlo Serenelli Ombra 1m39.805s + 3.202s
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