F3: Benavides won qualifying in Monza

      AIX Racing driver Brad Benavides set the fastest time in qualifying for the final round of the Formula 3 season at Monza. He will be joined on the front row in Sunday’s race by Ugo Ugochukwu.

      In Monza qualifying, drivers were split into two groups, each given 10 minutes. The first "Group A" was made up of drivers with even numbers, the second "Group B" of drivers with odd numbers.

      The allocation of starting positions for Sunday’s race changed according to the qualifying format. The driver from the group with the fastest time takes pole. The fastest driver from the other group starts second on Sunday, and then the starting positions alternate between the groups.

      The drivers who finish in the top 12 form the reversed grid for Saturday’s race – the sixth-fastest driver from the second group starts from pole, and the sixth-fastest driver from the first group will start second. The remaining 10 grid positions are distributed on the same principle.

      In the first qualifying group the drivers who went out were Badoer, Ugochukwu, Camara, van Hoepen, Worton, Inthraphuvasak, Johnson, Tramnitz, Justi, Hedley, Vouazen, Bilinski, Lacourte and Ho.

      The drivers went out in a big group, but nobody was keen to tow rivals down the straight. In practice, each had the opportunity to do two flying laps without changing tyres.

      The fastest time was set by Ugo Ugochukwu with a 1:38.613, 0.013s quicker than Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. Rafael Camara’s fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him 15th in his group.

      After a short pause, the participants of "Group B" went out: Leon, Stromsted, Wurz, Taponen, Boya, Tsolov, Stenshorn, Si, del Pino, Nael, Dominguez, Sharp, Barrichello, Benavides and Zagazeta.

      As in the first group, nobody wanted to tow rivals down the straight, and the drivers only had time for two flying laps. The best time was set by Brad Benavides, who lapped in 1:38.120.

      His time was quicker than the top time in "Group A", so the AIX Racing driver will start on pole in Sunday’s race. In the Saturday sprint, Laurens van Hoepen will start from first position.

      Combined qualifying results after both sessions

      Driver

      Team

      Time

      Laps

      1. B. Benavides

      AIX Racing

      1:38.120

      5

      2. U. Ugochukwu

      Prema

      1:38.613

      3

      3. N. Leon

      Prema

      1:38.382

      5

      4. T. Inthraphuvasak

      Campos Racing

      1:38.626

      3

      5. N. Tsolov

      Campos Racing

      1:38.467

      5

      6. R. Bilinski

      Rodin Motorsport

      1:38.667

      5

      7. M. Zagazeta

      DAMS

      1:38.482

      5

      8. A. Justi

      MP Motorsport

      1:38.670

      4

      9. T. Taponen

      ART Grand Prix

      1:38.502

      5

      10. T. Tramnitz

      MP Motorsport

      1:38.825

      4

      11. M. Stenshorn

      Hitech GP

      1:38.560

      5

      12. L. van Hoepen

      ART Grand Prix

      1:38.988

      3

      13. I. Dominguez

      Van Amersfoort Racing

      1:38.600

      5

      14. B. Badoer

      Prema

      1:39.028

      3

      15. C. Wurz

      Trident

      1:38.604

      5

      16. N. Johnson

      Hitech GP

      1:39.232

      5

      17. M. Boya

      Campos Racing

      1:38.638

      5

      18. K. Ho

      DAMS

      1:39.355

      3

      19. N. Stromsted

      Trident

      1:38.647

      5

      20. K. Vouazen

      Rodin Motorsport

      1:39.447

      4

      21. T. Nael

      Van Amersfoort Racing

      1:38.699

      5

      22. D. Worton

      ART Grand Prix

      1:39.473

      3

      23. L. Sharp

      Rodin Motorsport

      1:39.014

      5

      24. D. Hedley

      Van Amersfoort Racing

      1:39.629

      4

      25. J. Si

      Hitech GP

      1:39.084

      6

      26. N. Lacourte

      DAMS

      1:39.710

      3

      27. B. del Pino

      MP Motorsport

      1:39.159

      5

      28. N. Marinangeli

      AIX Racing

      1:40.033

      3

      29. F. Barrichello

      AIX Racing

      1:39.319

      5

      30. R. Camara

      Trident

      1:54.677

      3