Hockenheim Euro F3: Felix Rosenqvist dominates qualifying
Formula 3 European champion Felix Rosenqvist dominated the opening qualifying session at the Hockenheim finale to claim pole position for the opening race
Rosenqvist and the flotilla of sister Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes circulated together and kept their powder dry for the first 12 of the 20 minutes, before the Swede unleashed four hot laps that were quicker than the best anyone else could manage.
He ended up 0.348 seconds clear of new team-mate Maximilian Gunther, with Lance Stroll and Jake Dennis completing a 1-2-3-4 for Prema.
"Most of the time we were in a good [track] position," said Rosenqvist, "although there was an awkward moment in the middle of the session when I caught the Carlin guys in front and I didn't want to disturb my team-mates behind."
Gunther, on his first outing with Prema after extricating himself from Mucke Motorsport, took the second front-row spot of his rookie season by a tiny fraction, with Stroll, Dennis and Alexander Sims all within six hundredths.
BMW GT factory driver Sims, on only his and the new Hitech Grand Prix team's second F3 outing together, set purple sector-two times on both his last two laps, but could not match the Prema drivers in the other two sectors so had to settle for fifth.
Mikkel Jensen took sixth place in his Mucke Motorsport car, edging out Charles Leclerc - the Van Amersfoort Racing driver in a battle for second in the championship with Dennis and Antonio Giovinazzi - by just five thousandths.
Markus Pommer was eighth fastest for Motopark, with Giovinazzi the fastest of the Carlin squadron in ninth, and Alexander Albon (Signature) pipping George Russell for the final spot in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Red Bull junior Callum Ilott anchored the times, stopping before he had chance for a hot lap with suspension damage.
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m31.771s |
| 2 | Maximilian Guenther | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.348s |
| 3 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.354s |
| 4 | Jake Dennis | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.387s |
| 5 | Alexander Sims | Hitech GP | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.401s |
| 6 | Mikkel Jensen | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.554s |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.559s |
| 8 | Markus Pommer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.646s |
| 9 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.718s |
| 10 | Alexander Albon | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.789s |
| 11 | George Russell | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.814s |
| 12 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.920s |
| 13 | Arjun Maini | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.949s |
| 14 | Raoul Hyman | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.950s |
| 15 | Gustavo Menezes | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.032s |
| 16 | Alessio Lorandi | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.054s |
| 17 | Dorian Boccolacci | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.186s |
| 18 | Nabil Jeffri | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.244s |
| 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.372s |
| 20 | Michele Beretta | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.385s |
| 21 | Santino Ferrucci | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.402s |
| 22 | Ryan Tveter | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.433s |
| 23 | Tatiana Calderon | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.475s |
| 24 | Julio Moreno | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 1.547s |
| 25 | Matt Rao | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.780s |
| 26 | Zhi Cong Li | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.810s |
| 27 | Matt Solomon | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.913s |
| 28 | Andy Chang | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 2.231s |
| 29 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2.273s |
| 30 | Nicolas Pohler | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 2.430s |
| 31 | Harald Schlegelmilch | ArtLine Engineering | ARTTech/NBE | 2.707s |
| 32 | Marvin Dienst | ArtLine Engineering | ARTTech/NBE | 2.742s |
| 33 | Callum Ilott | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 6.140s |
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