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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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