F3: Blomqvist and Verstappen share poles

Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen kept their tenuous hopes of lifting the Formula 3 European Championship alive by taking a pole position apiece for Sunday's two races at Imola.

New Toro Rosso Formula 1 signing Verstappen set the two fastest times of the session, but must serve the last of his three 10-place grid penalties, incurred for an engine change last time out at the Nurburgring, in race two.

Verstappen had just set a lap time three tenths clear of the opposition in his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen when the session was red-flagged with just under seven minutes remaining due to an enormous shunt at the Villeneuve chicane for Ed Jones.

Emirati Jones, who has been suffering back problems since he crashed heavily in May at Pau, complained of a pain in the back of his neck, so some time was taken to remove him before placing him aboard a waiting ambulance and taking him to the medical center. He was taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

With daylight fading, and black clouds rolling in to further hamper vision, as well as the time taken to extract Jones, the decision was made to abandon the session.

Blomqvist's Jagonya Ayam with Carlin stablemate Antonio Giovinazzi set a lap time that would have earned him pole position for race two, albeit two tenths slower than Verstappem, but this was disallowed for a track-limits infringement, leaving him to take third on the grid.

Sharing the front row with Blomqvist for race two is championship leader Esteban Ocon, and the Lotus F1 junior set the second fastest second-best lap to join Verstappen (pictured) at the front for race three.

Ocon's Prema team-mate Antonio Fuoco will start alongside Giovinazzi in fourth for race two, with Will Buller making encouraging progress for the returning Signature team and taking fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 on the grid for race two are Nicholas Latifi, Jake Dennis (who, like Giovinazzi, lost a front-row time to a track-limits cancellation), Roy Nissany, Lucas Auer and Nick Cassidy. The last-named provided further pace for the Three Bond T-Sport team after almost taking fastest lap in Saturday's race.

Fuoco jumps to third on the grid for race three, with Blomqvist alongside him on the second row. Buller and Latifi again share the third row, with Felix Serralles, Dennis, Jordan King and Giovinazzi completing the top 10.

RACE TWO TIMES - Max Verstappen will receive 10-place penalty:

Race three times to follow