Event: 07 Misano
Session: Qualifying 2
Track: Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli / I
Pole position race 2: Jüri Vips (Motopark)
Pole position race 3: Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing)
Weather: rain, thunderstorms, 24.2 °C

Thunderstorms and rain showers affected second qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the 4.226 kilometres long Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Jüri Vips (Motopark) came on top. Italian-based New Zealander Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing) was classified second from Mick Schumacher (PREMA Theodore Racing) and Ralf Aron (PREMA Theodore Racing). In the ranking of the second fastest laps to determine the starting grid positions for the third race of the weekend, Armstrong was first from Aron, Vips and Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing).

Starting grid race two

For the young drivers, qualifying on the Italian Adriatic coast was anything but easy, but in spite of the adverse weather conditions, they largely remained error-free. Jüri Vips (1m46.004s) coped best with the conditions and moved up into first place at an early stage. Whenever the Estonian was toppled from first place during the twenty minutes’ session, he was always able to counter successfully. Thus, he eventually secured first place and pole position for the 20th race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season.

Marcus Armstrong (1m46.069s) ended up second, 0.065 seconds down. Another 0.101 seconds further down, Mick Schumacher (1m46.170s) was next up. Behind Ralf Aron (1m46.520s), Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin, 1m47.007s) ended up fifth and thus secured his best FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying result of the current season. Alex Palou (Hitech Bullfrog GP, 1m47.095s), Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 1m47.106s), Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m47.187s), Daniel Ticktum (Motopark, 1m47.354s) and Ben Hingeley (Hitech Bullfrog GP, 1m47.401s) rounded out the top ten in second qualifying.

Starting grid race three

The order of the second-fastest laps was Armstrong (1m46.214s) from Aron (1m46.540s), Vips (1m47.291s), Zhou (1m47.309s), Habsburg (1m47.314s), Enaam Ahmed (Hitech Bullfrog GP, 1m47.465s), Ticktum (1m47.595s), Schumacher (1m47.688s), Daruvala (1m47.898s) and Palou (1m47.915s).

Jüri Vips (Motopark): “The pace was good and I am happy to be on pole. Too bad that I was held up on my second fast lap as the track got faster and faster in the closing stages.”

Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing): “My radio didn’t work and therefore, I was unable to understand what my engineer was telling me. Then, I just went flat-out. Qualifying was great fun.”