Second place behind the 17-year-old Monegasque, who is currently leading the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings, went to German rookie Maximilian Günther (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 0:48.533 minutes). Thus, the two rookies will be on the front row for tomorrow’s 16th season race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Alexander Albon (Signature, 0:48.249 minutes) and Markus Pommer (Motopark, 0:48.543 minutes) will be on the second row, followed by Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam, 0:48.335 minutes) and Dorian Boccolacci (Signature, 0:48.603 minutes). 

Due to the number of entries in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the short track around the characteristic concrete grandstand in Nuremberg, the field was split up into two groups for qualifying. The outright fastest driver will be on pole position while the fastest driver of the other group will line up second on the grid. The other drivers will follow behind the fastest driver of their respective group in the order of their qualifying result. The group of the outright fastest driver will be on the right side of the starting grid, the other group will be positioned on the left side.

In Group B, the first group to go out on track, Markus Pommer, Dorian Boccolacci and Maximilian Günther already battled for the top positions in the first half of the session. With five minutes remaining, Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports, 0:49.242 minutes) was sidelined due to a crash. Qualifying was briefly interrupted to allow for his car to be recovered. After the interruption, the two Germans Maximilian Günther and Markus Pommer battled it out for the lead with Günther coming out on top. Pommer had to make do with second place in his group from Boccolacci, Alessio Lorandi (Van Amersfoort Racing, 0:48.637 minutes), Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam, 0:48.658 minutes) and Gustavo Menezes (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 0:48.684 minutes).

Group A was on next. Before the halfway point, Charles Leclerc moved up into first place, but initially wasn’t able to hold on to it. Firstly, Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, 0:48.439 minutes) toppled him, but Leclerc countered soon after that. With five minutes remaining, Alexander Albon claimed first place, but once again, Leclerc went faster on his next attempt. Eventually, Albon had to make do with second place, 0.009 seconds down on Leclerc, followed by Rosenqvist, Giovinazzi, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 0:48.443 minutes) and Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 0:48.491 minutes).

Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing): “This is the first pole position that I have claimed on track and therefore, I am very happy. After all, I only got my first two pole positions at Silverstone retrospectively, because Felix Rosenqvist, who had initially been fastest, had his lap times disallowed. During this qualifying, I locked up under braking once, which ruined my tyres. That didn’t make things any easier, but eventually, it was enough. Now, I hope that I will be equally successful in second qualifying.”