Jagonya Ayam with Carlin’s Antonio Giovinazzi will line up on the front row of the grid in second at his home race in Imola, Italy following a strong FIA Formula Three European Championship qualifying session for the team. Giovinazzi was a front runner from the start in a session which decided the starting grid for the first of three races this weekend. Team mate Tom Blomqvist will line up directly behind in fourth position having also enjoyed a great session around the new circuit to the calendar while Sean Gelael lines up just outside the top ten in 11th overall.
Following a long summer break the FIA Formula Three European Championship burst back on to the scene with two mid-season tests at the Italian circuit. The three Jagonya Ayam with Carlin drivers enjoyed two solid days of testing which put them in good stead as they prepared for the weekend.
Imola presented a new challenge for the Formula Three field with many drivers having never experienced the track previously. For Italian Giovinazzi the circuit seemed to come easy to him and he was able to move his Volkswagen powered Dallara car into provisional pole in the opening minutes of qualifying before being knocked down to second over the next few laps.
Gelael was also enjoying the track and was soon running in the top ten and looking like a strong contender however his fantastic run was to be cut dramatically short when he had to avoid a very slow moving car up ahead. This in turn sent him into a spin and subsequently he hit the barriers. However despite this his hard work in the first half of the session saw him set the 11th fastest time – however an engine penalty for Max Verstappen will move Gelael up to tenth position.
Over the duration of the 30 minute session two red flags were waved which in turn meant that improvement was a difficult affair for most however for Blomqvist he timed his flying lap perfectly and was soon sitting in third position behind his team mate. However, with one of the red flags coming within the final three minutes, Blomqvist was just beaten to the position by Jordan King in the sister Carlin car – the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver will line up in fourth overall for tomorrow morning’s race.
Meanwhile Giovinazzi enjoyed a strong qualifying and will start from the front row of the grid at his home event. Reflecting on the result he said, “It was a good session for us. We’ve tested a lot this week and I’ve been really happy with the work we’ve done. We were quite fast again this morning. I’m happy to be starting P2 and I hope I can do a good job at my home track, I’m really enjoying this weekend. Ironically I’ve never raced here before but this is my home country so it feels like my home track. I hope I can do a good job for the friends and family coming here to support me this weekend and of course the team.”
Blomqvist added, ‘“It was a pretty messy session, throughout testing and again in qualifying a lot of people were going off. I got out early and got a lap in, but I made a few mistakes and wasn’t particularly happy even though the time was good enough for third. Then there was a red flag, after which I went out on new tyres, but it wasn’t possible to improve due to another red flag. Then at the end I didn’t quite make the chequered flag to get another lap in. I struggled a bit in testing earlier this week and even this morning I wasn’t happy with my pace, so I’m happy that I’ve improved from there to qualify fourth, but still I expect to be higher up.”
Gelael said of his session, ‘“I’m really enjoying this track; the car is feeling good, I’m feeling really confident. The team have worked very hard and we tested a lot of things this week and I feel like I’ve made a step forward too. Obviously we could have done better today and didn’t get chance to show our pace. Unfortunately I was caught out by a slow car ahead of me and had a spin trying to avoid Max [Verstappen]. Without that I think we could have been eighth or ninth. You can’t overtake here much but we’ll see what is possible in the race and then focus again for second qualifying tomorrow.”
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