Fortec's Felix Serralles takes double pole position for Spa British and European F3 round

The spectacular Puerto Rican hustled his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes around the verdant Ardennes circuit in 2m15.157s, just 0.041 seconds quicker than Carlos Sainz Jr to take pole for race three. On second-fastest times, which decide the grid for race one, he was 0.243s clear of the Spaniard.

"This track is all about high-speed corners and having big balls," said Serralles. "That's the way I like to drive an F3 car - on the edge. The car was great and I was able to do two pole laps.

"This is a big boost to show I can be a contender until the end of the year."

Sainz, the fastest of the drivers registered for FIA European F3 Championship points, again complained of a misfire on the straights but was very pleased with his best lap in his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, coming after a string of poor results in British F3.

Dominant Masters of F3 victor Daniel Juncadella put in what he proudly proclaimed as "one of my best laps this season' to be third fastest overall as the Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes squad again suffered a handling malaise.

He was unable to get within 0.3s of his outright pace on his second-best lap, meaning that Alex Lynn will start his Fortec machine from third for the opening race.

British F3 points leader Jack Harvey again looked to be going into the session on strong form, but a collision with Hannes van Asseldonk at Les Combes ended both drivers' running prematurely. The Briton will therefore start the races from seventh and 10th.

Harvey's closest rival, his Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar, again looks on strong form and the Malaysian, renowned for his strong overtaking, starts both races from the third row.

It was an even worse story for European F3 Championship leader Raffaele Marciello, who starts both races buried in the midfield in 15th place after not managing to extract as much from his Prema Dallara as team-mate Juncadella.

Adderly Fong bounced back from his practice crash to go fastest in the National Class in his CF Racing entry, although he shares the poles with T-Sport runner Spike Goddard.

Race one qualifying:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                Time     Gap
 1.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.212s 
 2.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.455s  + 0.243s
 3.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.715s  + 0.503s
 4.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc      2m15.821s  + 0.609s
 5.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.862s  + 0.660s
 6.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.899s  + 0.697s
 7.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.983s  + 0.781s
 8.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc      2m16.004s  + 0.792s
 9.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m16.060s  + 0.848s
10.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW       2m16.151s  + 0.939s
11.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-con Dallara-VW       2m16.219s  + 1.007s
12.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m16.222s  + 1.010s
13.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc      2m16.329s  + 1.127s
14.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  2m16.386s  + 1.174s
15.  Raffaelle Marciello   Prema Dallara-Merc      2m16.593s  + 1.381s
16.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc      2m16.744s  + 1.532s
17.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc      2m16.750s  + 1.538s
18.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc   2m17.004s  + 1.792s
19.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc   2m17.053s  + 1.841s 
20.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-con Dallara-VW       2m17.104s  + 1.892s
21.  Andrea Roda           Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  2m17.270s  + 2.058s
22.  Richard Bradley       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m17.274s  + 2.062s
23.  Lucas Wolf            URD Dallara-Merc        2m17.954s  + 2.742s
24.  Sandro Zeller         Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  2m18.163s  + 2.951s
25.  Luis Sa Silva         Angola Dallara-Merc     2m18.300s  + 3.088s
26.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   2m18.348s  + 3.136s
27.  Adderly Fong          CF Dallara-Mugen        2m18.675s  + 3.463s
28.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen  2m19.365s  + 4.153s
29.  Pedro Calbimonte      T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   2m19.431s  + 4.219s

Race three qualifying:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                Time     Gap
 1.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.157s  
 2.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.198s  + 0.041s
 3.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc      2m15.460s  + 0.303s
 4.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.527s  + 0.370s
 5.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.678s  + 0.521s
 6.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-con Dallara-VW       2m15.697s  + 0.540s
 7.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.767s  + 0.610s
 8.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.815s  + 0.658s
 9.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc     2m15.834s  + 0.677s
10.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.914s  + 0.757s
11.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc      2m15.953s  + 0.796s
12.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW       2m15.972s  + 0.815s
13.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc      2m16.026s  + 0.864s
14.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan  2m16.189s  + 1.032s
15.  Raffaelle Marciello   Prema Dallara-Merc      2m16.320s  + 1.173s
16.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc      2m16.570s  + 1.413s
17.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-con Dallara-VW       2m16.612s  + 1.465s
18.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc      2m16.640s  + 1.487s
19.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc   2m16.681s  + 1.534s
20.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc   2m16.777s  + 1.620s 
21.  Richard Bradley       Carlin Dallara-VW       2m16.912s  + 1.755s
22.  Andrea Roda           Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  2m16.966s  + 1.809s
23.  Sandro Zeller         Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  2m17.503s  + 2.346s
24.  Lucas Wolf            URD Dallara-Merc        2m17.792s  + 2.635s
25.  Adderly Fong          CF Dallara-Mugen        2m17.826s  + 2.669s
26.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   2m17.926s  + 2.769s
27.  Luis Sa Silva         Angola Dallara-Merc     2m18.155s  + 3.098s
28.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen  2m18.804s  + 3.643s
29.  Pedro Calbimonte      T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   2m19.325s  + 4.169s