F3: Sette Camara grabs pole for Masters

Sergio Sette Camara continued his form from free practice by bagging pole position for the Masters of Formula 3 qualification race at Zandvoort.

The 17-year-old Brazilian's Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen shot to the top of the times with a couple of minutes remaining on his second new set of Kumho tyres to deny pre-event favorite Antonio Giovinazzi, who made a mistake in the penultimate corner on his hot lap, by 0.062 seconds.

Carlin driver Giovinazzi was over half a second ahead at the mid-session point, after everyone had taken their opening runs on their first set of tires, but the times tumbled as the track dried completely following early-morning rain.

"I knew in the first sector I had to push to get the heat into the tires," said Sette Camara, "and I knew that in the last sector the time would come as it was drying out. The car was perfect and I managed to squeeze a good lap out."

Markus Pommer, like Giovinazzi a winner at the Dutch circuit during the European F3 round in July, backed up Motopark teammate Sette Camara with third-fastest time, having held pole until the late runs by the leading duo. The German was delayed by a car in front on both his laps with the tyres at their peak.

George Russell was second at the midpoint of the session, but the Carlin-run Englishman couldn't quite get into the pole battle and will line up alongside Pommer on the second row. Just a few hundredths behind Russell was fifth-placed Alessio Lorandi, and Arjun Maini was next up to form an all-Van Amersfoort Racing third row.

Likewise, two more teammates share the fourth rank, with Sam MacLeod and Nabil Jeffri making it four Motopark runners in the top eight. Callum Ilott (Carlin) and Raoul Hyman (Team West-Tec) were within a hundredth of Jeffri as they completed the top 10.

On his return to F3, Indy Lights race winner Felix Serralles qualified 13th, while Formula Renault Eurocup ace Dennis Olsen gave the ThreeBond engine a respectable debut with 14th.

Originally on Autosport.com