On his fastest lap of the challenging circuit in the rolling hills of the Belgian Ardennes, the Swede was 0.238 seconds faster than his team-mate Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 2:10.411 minutes). Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 2:10.964 minutes), the FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader, moved up to third place in the final seconds and ended up ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports, 2:11.008 minutes), the best-placed rookie in the field. Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam, 2:11.112 minutes) and Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2:11.121 minutes) were fifth and sixth respectively.

It took Felix Rosenqvist quite long to join into the battle for pole position. The Swede showed up in first place only five minutes before the end of the session, only to lose this place straight away. However, the Prema driver countered successfully and claimed first place in the final classification. For Rosenqvist, the winner of the 2014 Macau Grand Prix, this was his eighth pole position from 13 races in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Behind Rosenqvist, Jake Dennis ended up second from Antonio Giovinazzi. The two stalwarts only managed to move up ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi in the final minutes. In spite of a broken hand incurred at Pau five weeks ago, the Brazilian scored his best FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying result to date. In fifth place, Brandon Maïsano also ranked ahead of Charles Leclerc, who is currently leading the rookie standings. Alexander Albon (Signature, 2:11.172 minutes), Santino Ferrucci (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 2:11.224 minutes), Callum Ilott (Carlin, 2:11.240 minutes) and Markus Pommer (Motopark, 2:11.244 minutes) rounded out the top ten.

Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam): “It was dry in the early stages of qualifying, but rain set in in the first and final corner just as I had warmed up my tyres. I already thought that I wouldn’t be able to improve my lap time, which would have been too bad, because I was well down the order at that time. Only when rain had stopped towards the end of the session, I was able to improve. That was enough to claim pole position.”