Euro F3 rookie Daruvala takes Monza pole

The Carlin team dominated proceedings in first qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at Monza. Rookie Jehan Daruvala (1m44.105s), a protégé of the Force India Formula 1 team, secured his first FIA Formula 3 European Championship pole position ahead of Carlin teammates, McLaren junior driver Lando Norris (1m44.135s) and Jake Dennis (1m44.202s). Behind Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 1m44.370s), Ferdinand Habsburg (1m44.552s) followed as the fourth Carlin driver in fifth place. Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 1m44.554s), who came to Italy as the leader in the drivers' standings, was classified sixth in the first qualifying of the Monza weekend.

Just before the end of the session, Ilott was on top, but the British driver of the Italian Prema Powerteam wasn't able to hold on to this position until the end. In the final moment, two rookie drivers moved up ahead of the stalwart. Ilott is one of three drivers who already were present when the FIA Formula 3 European Championship last raced at Monza in 2015. On his final flying lap, Daruvala was 0.03 seconds faster than Norris, which made the Indian secure his first Formula 3 pole position.

"The first half of the session, prior to the scheduled pit stop, was relatively hectic for me. Then, with six or seven minutes remaining, I headed back out again and first of all tried to find a good track position," he said. "Once I had managed to do so, I was able to get another two laps in. The first lap was OK, but the second one was really good. A good slipstream certainly helped me as well, something you need at Monza. Now, I am particularly looking forward to tomorrow's race in which I will be able to start from first place on the grid."

Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg completed the success for Carlin with fifth place, his best FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying result to date. Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 1m44.922s), Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m44.922s), Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam, 1m44.925s) and Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m44.996s) rounded out the top 10 in a qualifying session that was briefly interrupted with the red flag after Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m57.543s) had spun.