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Surprise pole for Mikkel Jensen

20.06.15
In a thrilling second qualifying of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) came to the fore.

The Dane, who is in his first FIA Formula 3 European Championship season, claimed his maiden pole position in the category. For Brandon Maïsano (Prema Powerteam), second place was his best qualifying result of the season to date, as was third position for Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam). At the 7.004 kilometres long Grand Prix circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam) had to make do with fourth place. In the ranking of the second-fastest laps, used to determine the starting grid positions for the third race, Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam) came out on top from Jensen, Maïsano and Markus Pommer (Motopark). 

Starting grid race 2

Only seven minutes into the session, Alexander Albon (Signature) came off the track and caused the first interruption. At that time, Alessio Lorandi (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2:17.045 minutes) was in the lead from George Russell (Carlin, 2:16.770 minutes) and Fabian Schiller (Team West-Tec F3, 2:19.209 minutes). After the restart, however, the trio dropped back.

The decision in second qualifying only came at the end of the session as Mikkel Jensen (2:13.707 minutes) and Brandon Maïsano (2:13.786 minutes) moved to the top of the time sheets. The two youngsters toppled Lance Stroll (2:14.072 minutes), who had been fastest before, to third place. With less than one minute remaining, the session was stopped due to an accident by Callum Ilott (Carlin, 2:15.495 minutes) and wasn’t restarted.

Felix Rosenqvist (2:14.175 minutes), who had claimed his eighth pole position of the season in first qualifying, ended up fourth from Sam MacLeod (Motopark, 2:14.379 minutes), Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports, 2:14.482 minutes), Jake Dennis (2:14.579 minutes), Santino Ferrucci (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport, 2:14.584 minutes), Dorian Boccolacci (Signature, 2:14.666 minutes) und Sérgio Sette Câmara (Motopark, 2:14.756 minutes).

Starting grid race 3

Jake Dennis (2:14.665 minutes) claimed pole position for the third race of the meeting in Belgium. Behind the Brit, Mikkel Jensen (2:14.677 minutes), Brandon Maïsano (2:14.812 minutes), Markus Pommer (2:14.950 minutes), Sam MacLeod (2:15.061 minutes), Pietro Fittipaldi (2:15.219 minutes), Felix Rosenqvist (2:15.606 minutes), Lance Stroll (2:15.607 minutes), Sérgio Sette Câmara (2:15.631 minutes) and Callum Ilott (2:15.644 minutes) followed in second to tenth place.

Mikkel Jensen (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport): “Weather conditions weren’t easy: towards the end, some places were almost entirely dry, but some were still really wet. Especially in the two wet corners, making no mistakes was a real challenge and not all drivers managed to do so. I succeeded, however, and claimed pole position.”

Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam): “This pole position is a little surprise, because I wasn’t aware that my second-fastest lap was that quick. Unfortunately, a red flag slowed me down on my fastest lap, which was a pity. However, pole position for the third race somehow makes up for it.”