Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing) proved to be the quickest, at Monza’s 5.793-kilometre GP circuit, by crossing the line in 1:44.040 minutes. Behind him, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:44.282 minutes) secured second position, followed by Santino Ferrucci (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 1:44.347), Raoul Hyman (Team West-Tec F3, 1:44.400), Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 1:44.438) and Arjn Maini (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1:44.531 minutes).

It wasn’t the first time this year that Charles Leclerc demonstrated to be one of the fastest drivers on this year’s FIA Formula 3 European Championship grid. Nonetheless, he said afterwards: “At the beginning, I needed some time for adapting to this circuit. After all, we have been racing at Pau’s short and tight street circuit just a few days ago. And now, we have to deliver at Monza’s high-speed racetrack.” But with his fastest lap time of the day, the Monegasque underlined that he coped with this challenge in fine style.

Mikkel Jensen made for a rookie one-two and was delighted with having finished second on the time sheets. The best driver with Formula 3 experience under his belt was Jensen’s team-mate Santino Ferrucci. “In the morning session, the set-up wasn’t perfect but we did a great job and found a very good set-up, in the end,” revealed the US-American who succeeded in keeping Raoul Hyman, the third-fastest rookie, at bay. But the South African was happy with his fourth position on the time sheets: “Altogether it was a good day,” he said. “I think that I could have been even faster, in the afternoon, but having secured a top-five result is fine.”

Behind experienced F3 driver Jake Dennis – winner in two of the three Pau rounds - Arjun Maini came sixth. The Indian who had scored his first points, at Pau, once again demonstrated to be in good shape, in the Monza tests. Behind him, Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam, 1:44.590 minutes) came seventh, with Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports, 1:44.609) making his FIA Formula 3 European Championship comeback with eighth position on the time sheets. The Brazilian hadn’t been able to contest the three races of the Pau weekend due to a hand fracture he suffered in the qualifying session. “Fortunately, a surgery proved to be unnecessary,” revealed the grandson of former Formula 1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. “A splint was adapted to my racing gloves and this enables me to race here at Monza.” Markus Pommer (Motopark, 1:44.627 minutes), who finished ninth at the end of the seven hours of testing, also came to a positive conclusion: “I have many fond memories of Monza as I have been racing here before. Today we tried several things and I realised that we have got what it takes to battle it out at the front end of the field. But at the end of the day, the times don’t really matter before the qualifying session on Friday.”

Canada’s Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 1:44.655 minutes) completed the top 10. “I always love to race at Monza although I contested just one race weekend here, to date,” he said. “Driving here is big fun and the venue has got a long and rich history. I learned quite a lot, today, and now I’m going to start into the weekend in confident mood.”

Italy’s Team Eurointernational will be represented by two new drivers, in their home meeting: Facundo Regalia (Eurointernational, 1:44.934 minutes) and Artur Janosz (Eurointernational, 1:45.210) completed their first FIA Formula 3 European Championship laps, in the Monza tests, to finish 17th (Regalia) and 23rd (Janosz) respectively.