Carlos Sainz Jr stepped up from a tough practice yesterday to claim pole position for the British F3 feature event at the iconic Monza circuit.
Amendments to the set-up of Sainz Jr’s Carlin-prepared machine allowed the Spaniard to garner extra pace for qualifying.
Sainz Jr’s fast run secured the Carlin rookie his first pole of potentially many in what is looking like an increasingly busy season*.
Serralles missed the peak by one-and-a-half tenths; however the Puerto Rican still possessed an extra five-hundredths gap over teammate Alex Lynn (3rd).
Jazeman Jaafar grabbed 4th with a best some three-tenths shy of the pole, while Hannes van Asseldonk (5th) and Pipo Derani made it an all-Fortec third row.
Carlin’s Pietro Fantin secured 7th, although the Brazilian may be disappointed to find his top lap was still two-tenths shy of Jaafar. Harry Tincknell has the outside of row four, thanks to a time just under one second off Sainz Jr’s pace – the Exeter man lamented poor grip during the session.
As with the opening round at Oulton Park, the top places were dominated by Carlin and Fortec machinery, with the two squads shutting out the top eight spots.
Only T-Sport’s Nick McBride could penetrate the bubble. The Australian assumed 9th spot, two-tenths ahead of Jack Harvey, who was left to contemplate 10th on the grid.
T-Sport’s Geoff Uhrhane fell one-tenth short of Harvey’s marker with a time that still left the Australian nearly one second clear of his Double R teammate Fahmi Ilyas, who spun during the session.
In the National Class, Spike Goddard proved quicker than Duvashen Padayachee once again, although Padayachee does appear to be closing the gap to Goddard with every session.
Positions at the top for the opening race of the weekend swap, with Serralles nabbing pole from Sainz Jr by only 0.021 seconds.
It will be an all-Fortec second row, with Lynn pipping van Asseldonk, although Fantin (5th) and Derani (6th) made it a close fight for the top spots.
* {note 1}
Alongside his British Formula 3 duties, Carlos Sainz Jr will also be competing in this year’s FIA European Formula 3 Championship – a series that pairs all eight of the F3 Euro Series with two rounds of the British Formula 3 Championship**.
** {note 1b}
Beyond the Euro Series, the European Formula 3 Championship will also take in visits to Pau and Spa-Francorchamps.
2012 British F3 Round of Monza (Rd 2, Grid Race 1) 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 Italics = National Class
2012 British F3 Round of Monza (Rd 2, Grid Race 3) 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 Italics = National Class
