Sainz and Serralles take maiden British F3 poles at Monza
Carlos Sainz Jr topped qualifying for the British Formula 3 International Series at Monza and will start tomorrow afternoon's race from pole position - his first in the series
But while the Spaniard was fastest overall, Puerto Rican Felix Serralles has also taken his maiden pole and will top the grid for this afternoon's race, which is based on second-fastest times.
Sainz's Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen and Serralles's Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes monopolise the two front rows, which each adding a second place to their poles.
The 17-year-old Sainz ran with minimal rear wing in order to address the Carlin team's straight-line speed deficit to Fortec. "The team and I did a really good job yesterday thinking about changes," he said. "Surprisingly, everything we did was in the right direction." He added that he enjoyed benefit from a tow he picked up as many of the leading runners lapped in the same group.
Serralles was the only one of the fastest eight drivers never to have seen Monza before Friday's free practice, when the afternoon session was his first taste of the venue in the dry. "I was just trying to learn as much as possible, but I put it together for qualifying," he said. "The track was getting quicker and quicker and I was on my own most of the time - I didn't get a tow."
Another Fortec runner, Friday pacesetter Alex Lynn, lines up third on the grid for both races, while Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) and Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec) complete the second row in races three and one respectively.
The other Fortec driver, Pipo Derani, was fastest at the mid-session point, but failed to find as much time on his second set of tyres as the other leading runners. Meanwhile, it was disaster for championship leader Jack Harvey, who will start each race from the fifth row alongside the improving Dallara-Nissan of T-Sport's Nick McBride.
The only major incident was Fahmi Ilyas spinning his Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes into the gravel with a few minutes remaining.
The other T-Sport machine of Spike Goddard took a brace of National Class poles.
Grid for race one:
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 Grid for race three: 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
*Denotes National Class runners
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