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Fastest qualifying time for Sette Câmara, pole position for Stroll

09.09.16
F3 - 2016 Race of Nurburgring - Qualifying 1
FIA, Motorsport, Mobility, Road Safety, F1, WRC, WEC, WTCC, World RX

Admittedly, Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam, 1m21.218s) only posted the second-fastest lap time in first qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, but he will still be starting the 22nd race of the season from pole position. The reason is a penalty that Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark, 1m21.011s), the fastest driver in qualifying, received for an engine change at Spa-Francorchamps and that will make him drop ten places on the grid. Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam, 1m21.353s), Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 1m21.393s) and George Russell (HitechGP, 1m21.423s) will be starting from second to fourth place into the first race at the 3.629 kilometres long Nürburgring sprint circuit, followed by Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 1m21,466s) as the best-placed rookie.

Lance Stroll had been on top for a long time until Sérgio Sette Câmara made his final attempt. The 18-year-old South-American, a resident of Barcelona and a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, initially improved from fifth to second and went even faster on his next lap. Eventually, he was 0.207 seconds faster than the Canadian FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader.

Behind Sette Câmara, Stroll and New Zealand’s Cassidy, Maximilian Günther was the best-placed German young driver in qualifying. Günther is currently 61 points behind Stroll in the drivers’ standings – the Canadian already having Formula 1 links in his role as a Williams junior driver.

Seventh to tenth position in qualifying went to Ralf Aron (Prema Powerteam, 1m21.494s), Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing, 1m21.505s), Guanyu Zhou (Motopark, 1m21,542s) and Niko Kari (Motopark, 1m21.548s), but they will also be moving up one place each following Sette Câmara’s penalty. The fastest lap times of the entire field were within one second.

Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark): “My season hasn’t been optimal so far, which partly was due to me, but also simply due to bad luck. The fact that I set the fastest qualifying time here, but I will only be starting from eleventh place on the grid due to the penalty, only fits into that frame. Nevertheless, I am happy with my lap time, because it is always nice to see your name on top of a ranking. Prior to the race weekend, I visited the team and I also prepared for the Nürburgring on the simulator. I reckon that this preparation was important for the good result.”