Spa European F3: Felix Rosenqvist leads strike-delayed practice
Felix Rosenqvist comfortably topped the sole free practice session for this weekend's Formula 3 European Championship round at Spa
With the championship mired in controversy over driving and officiating standards during the past three weeks, the F3 field once again found their running cut short in the Ardennes.
This time, however, it was owing to an on-track strike by Spa circuit workers, delaying the start of the meeting by an hour and a half and causing the F3 practice to be trimmed from its usual brace of 40-minute sessions to a single hour of running.
With an ambient temperature only just nudging into double figures and the circuit damp off line after morning rain, times were relatively slow.
Rosenqvist and his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes led the way for the majority of the session, despite the Swede being one of those to take to the Les Combes escape road in slippery conditions.
Charles Leclerc nosed in front into the final quarter of the session with a series of quick laps, the Monegasque relatively early of the frontrunners to fit fresh tyres to his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen.
But the rookie had no answer to Rosenqvist's final salvo, which put the F3 veteran to the top of the times.
A quick late run from Carlin's championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi lifted him to second right at the end of the session, 0.231 seconds adrift of Rosenqvist, with Leclerc ending up third.
Jake Dennis (Prema) - the final member of this year's 'big four' - also lifted himself up the order in the late stages, despite not running new tyres, to take fourth.
Prema rookie Lance Stroll had been third until the final few minutes, but ended up being demoted to seventh in the dying moments of the session by Fortec Motorsport's Pietro Fittipaldi and Motopark-run Sam MacLeod - the Scot had run second through much of the middle stages.
Raoul Hyman picked up where he led off at Monza, the South African earning bragging rights among the trio of BRDC Formula 4 graduates to place his Team West-Tec car in eighth place.
Next up was Mikkel Jensen, who looked the most comfortable of the Mucke Motorsport quintet to take ninth, as Carlin's George Russell rounded out the top 10.
Alexander Albon and Markus Pommer also faded from the leading runners, dropping to 11th and 14th and sandwiching Americans Gustavo Menezes and Santino Ferrucci.
The EuroInternational team is absent this weekend after team boss Antonio Ferrari was unable to secure a driver to commit to the next three rounds.
PRACTICE TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Felix Rosenqvist | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m11.362s | - | 18 |
2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m11.593s | 0.231s | 19 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m11.639s | 0.277s | 22 |
4 | Jake Dennis | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m11.974s | 0.612s | 21 |
5 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.030s | 0.668s | 21 |
6 | Sam MacLeod | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.031s | 0.669s | 18 |
7 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.088s | 0.726s | 21 |
8 | Raoul Hyman | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.137s | 0.775s | 21 |
9 | Mikkel Jensen | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.146s | 0.784s | 19 |
10 | George Russell | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.439s | 1.077s | 20 |
11 | Alexander Albon | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.483s | 1.121s | 21 |
12 | Gustavo Menezes | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.544s | 1.182s | 19 |
13 | Santino Ferrucci | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.567s | 1.205s | 20 |
14 | Markus Pommer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.624s | 1.262s | 23 |
15 | Callum Ilott | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.651s | 1.289s | 19 |
16 | Ryan Tveter | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.660s | 1.298s | 20 |
17 | Tatiana Calderon | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.665s | 1.303s | 19 |
18 | Alessio Lorandi | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m12.669s | 1.307s | 20 |
19 | Maximilian Guenther | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.960s | 1.598s | 18 |
20 | Matt Rao | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m12.998s | 1.636s | 21 |
21 | Brandon Maisano | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m13.053s | 1.691s | 21 |
22 | Arjun Maini | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m13.201s | 1.839s | 21 |
23 | Michele Beretta | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m13.342s | 1.980s | 18 |
24 | Fabian Schiller | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m13.489s | 2.127s | 16 |
25 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m13.498s | 2.136s | 17 |
26 | Julio Moreno | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 2m13.653s | 2.291s | 19 |
27 | Nabil Jeffri | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m13.855s | 2.493s | 18 |
28 | Nicolas Pohler | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m13.917s | 2.555s | 21 |
29 | Dorian Boccolacci | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m13.929s | 2.567s | 20 |
30 | Matt Solomon | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m14.194s | 2.832s | 22 |
31 | Martin Cao | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m14.608s | 3.246s | 17 |
32 | Kang Ling | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 2m15.054s | 3.692s | 17 |
33 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2m16.569s | 5.207s | 19 |
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