In bright sunshine and with temperatures of over 30° C, the young drivers of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship staged a thrilling battle for the positions at the front of the field in qualifying. The decision came only in the final minute as Lance Stroll posted his fastest lap time, 0.192 seconds faster than erstwhile leader Callum Ilott. Almost simultaneously, Joel Eriksson improved once again as well. The Swedish talent, freshly promoted into the ranks of the BMW Motorsport junior programme, thus moved up into third place, demoting his team-mate Guanyu Zhou to fourth. Thus, Eriksson and Zhou were the best-placed rookies, racing for the first time at Norisring this season.

Behind the two stalwarts Nick Cassidy and George Russell, two further Motopark drivers followed: Niko Kari (0:48.383 minutes) was classified seventh, Sérgio Sette Câmara (0:48.453 minutes) ended up eighth. Bavarian Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 0:48.476 minutes), had to make do with ninth place in qualifying for his home race. He ranked ahead of the second German in the field, David Beckmann (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 0:48.512 minutes). Series returnee William Buller (Carlin, 0:48.568 minutes) was classified eleventh.

Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam): “I am very happy with the result and pole position for the first race here at the Norisring. However, there are no points at stake in qualifying, so this result is no real reason to celebrate. Moreover, the entire field is very closely together here and there are many opportunities to overtake during the race. For tomorrow, rain showers have been forecast as well, which would make things even more exciting. First of all, however, I have to remain focussed today, because second qualifying is scheduled for later this afternoon, deciding on the starting grid positions for the second and third race of this weekend.”