Giovinazzi dominates Masters qualifier

Antonio Giovinazzi dominated the qualification race for the Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort, pulling away every lap to win the short 'sprint' by almost nine seconds.

Poleman Sergio Sette Camara seemed to get a decent launch at the start, but then suffered wheelspin and was swamped by Giovinazzi and the rapid-starting Markus Pommer, who ran side-by-side into the Tarzanbocht.

German Pommer tried to tough it out on the outside, but Giovinazzi emerged in front and the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen pulled away each lap by more than half a second.

While Giovinazzi was in a class of his own to take pole position for Sunday's 25th Masters of F3 race, the equivalent of his winning margin covered the next seven cars home.

"The car was fantastic - I just tried to drive the same every lap to not stress the tyres and I was feeling really good," said the Italian.

"But we are only halfway, and I hope we can do a good race again tomorrow."

While it was close down the rest of the field, it was also processional, with Pommer never troubled by Motopark team-mate Sette Camara, and George Russell's Carlin machine in turn unable to mount a serious challenge for the podium.

A good start lifted Sam MacLeod from seventh to fifth, and he headed fellow Motopark runner Nabil Jeffri throughout once the Malaysian had passed Arjun Maini into the chicane on the opening lap.

Maini then dropped behind Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Alessio Lorandi when he was passed around the outside of Tarzan on lap two, but remained glued to the gearbox of the Italian for the rest of the race.

Ryan Tveter (Carlin) and F3 returnee Felix Serralles (Jo Zeller Racing) completed the top 10 after Callum Ilott lost out in the opening-lap jostling.

Raoul Hyman was running just behind these two when he lost drive and ground to a halt on the fourth lap to post the race's only retirement. That promoted Julio Moreno, who was alone in saving a fresh set of tyres for this race, to 11th.

Originally on Autosport.com