Monza: Round ten qualifying report

DOUBLE POLES FOR ENGEL AND PEREZ

Maro Engel (#23 Carlin Motorsport) and Sergio Perez (#31 T Sport) claimed a double pole at Monza. Carrying on from round 9 qualifying, the two drivers set the fastest times in their respective classes.

Engel posted a 1m46.335 lap, just 0.087 seconds ahead of Stephen Jelley (#1 Raikkonen Robertson Racing). Atte Mustonen (#26 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) ended the session beached in the gravel but the Finn will start from 3rd place once again thanks to a 1m46.426 lap he posted just before he went off. Championship leader Marko Asmer went one better than the earlier qualifying session and finished the session in 4th, but was unable to put together his best sector times and ended the session 0.574 seconds adrift of Engel.

Alberto Valerio (#22 Carlin Motorsport) improved on the earlier qualifying to finish 5th overall, ahead of the Fortec duo of Sebastian Hohenthal (#5 Fortec) and Greg Mansell (#50 Fortec). Sam Bird (#3 Carlin Motorsport) was another driver unable to string together his fastest times and finished the session in a disappointing 8th place ahead of Carlin teammate Mario Moraes (#4 Carlin Motorsport), who had suffered a gearbox bearing problem in first qualifying. Jonathan Kennard (#2 Raikkonen Robertson Racing) also had a problem on his Dallara with a fading brake system. The Double R driver could only manage 10th overall, 0.935 seconds behind Engel.

'Frankie' Cheng (#39 Performance Racing) was closer to Perez than he was in the earlier session and finished qualifying just 0.190 behind the Mexican in the National Class and, more significantly, he only has the Mygale of Esteben Guerrieri (#14 Ultimate Motorsport) between them. Hamad Al Fardan was 3rd in class, six places behind Cheng but only 0.044 seconds ahead of Mike Meadows (#55 Newnet Raikkonen Roberston Racing).

Maro Engel: "A fantastic day, you could say three out of three if you include practice this morning. Most credit goes to my team, they set the car up beautifully from the off and they only had to do a bit of fine tuning. I just had to drive the thing. This weather is beautiful - Italy; sunshine; summer; what more could you wish for?"

-credit www.britishf3international.com