Sainz and Serralles take maiden British F3 poles at Monza

But while the Spaniard was fastest overall, Puerto Rican Felix Serralles has also taken his maiden pole and will top the grid for this afternoon's race, which is based on second-fastest times.

Sainz's Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen and Serralles's Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes monopolise the two front rows, which each adding a second place to their poles.

The 17-year-old Sainz ran with minimal rear wing in order to address the Carlin team's straight-line speed deficit to Fortec. "The team and I did a really good job yesterday thinking about changes," he said. "Surprisingly, everything we did was in the right direction." He added that he enjoyed benefit from a tow he picked up as many of the leading runners lapped in the same group.

Serralles was the only one of the fastest eight drivers never to have seen Monza before Friday's free practice, when the afternoon session was his first taste of the venue in the dry. "I was just trying to learn as much as possible, but I put it together for qualifying," he said. "The track was getting quicker and quicker and I was on my own most of the time - I didn't get a tow."

Another Fortec runner, Friday pacesetter Alex Lynn, lines up third on the grid for both races, while Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) and Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec) complete the second row in races three and one respectively.

The other Fortec driver, Pipo Derani, was fastest at the mid-session point, but failed to find as much time on his second set of tyres as the other leading runners. Meanwhile, it was disaster for championship leader Jack Harvey, who will start each race from the fifth row alongside the improving Dallara-Nissan of T-Sport's Nick McBride.

The only major incident was Fahmi Ilyas spinning his Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes into the gravel with a few minutes remaining.

The other T-Sport machine of Spike Goddard took a brace of National Class poles.

Grid for race one:

Pos Driver                  Team/Car                 Time
 1. Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.768s
 2. Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.787s
 3. Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merce     1m47.172s
 4. Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merce     1m47.209s
 5. Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.239s
 6. Pipo Derani             Fortec  Dallara-Merc     1m47.311s
 7. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.603s
 8. Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.658s
 9. Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.861s
10. Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m47.905s
11. Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.139s
12. Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc    1m49.373s
13. Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m50.513s
14. Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m50.899s

Grid for race three:

Pos Driver                  Team/Car                 Time
 1. Carlos Sainz Jr         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.575s
 2. Felix Serralles         Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.722s
 3. Alex Lynn               Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.779s
 4. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW        1m46.901s
 5. Hannes van Asseldonk    Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m46.951s
 6. Pipo Derani             Fortec Dallara-Merc      1m47.083s
 7. Pietro Fantin           Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.219s
 8. Harry Tincknell         Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.562s
 9. Nick McBride            T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   1m47.583s
10. Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW        1m47.788s
11. Geoff Uhrhane           Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.015s
12. Fahmi Ilyas             Double R Dallara-Merc    1m48.992s
13. Spike Goddard           T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   1m49.943s
14. Duvashen Padayachee     Double R Dallara-Mugen*  1m50.736s


*Denotes National Class runners