Front Row Start for Norris at Monza

Lando Norris has once again produced a brilliant qualifying performance to secure him a front row start on the grid for the second race of the FIA Formula Three European Championship race weekend at Monza. Norris left it until the end of the session to set his lap which provisionally had him on pole before he was just pipped leaving the McLaren-Honda Young Driver in second position ahead of the race tomorrow morning. In fact all four Carlin men left it quite late to set their laps; Ferdinand Habsburg had a strong session to qualify fifth with Jake Dennis alongside in sixth while this morning’s pole sitter Jehan Daruvala will start from tenth.

As is often true with Monza the qualifying session this afternoon became a case of looking for that perfect tow on track in order to boost the times during their qualifying runs. In turn, this meant that for the first half of the session the Carlin drivers were yet to set a competitive lap while they found their ideal position around the Autodromo di Monza.

As the clock continued to count down, the Carlin drivers were looking good on their fast laps. Norris was the first to really move, taking his Volkswagen powered Dallara up to second overall while this morning’s pole sitter Daruvala was looking strong in fifth overall and Dennis in eighth. Habsburg meanwhile seemed to be biding his time and was still in 18th position, yet to set a representative lap.

With just a few minutes remaining it was becoming tense out there with very few drivers managing to improve on their sectors however this morning’s race winner Norris soon began to light up the timing screens and blitzed his way to provisional pole position – however in no time at all Eriksson had just pipped the British racer; pushing him down to second and securing his second front row start of the weekend in the process.

Habsburg meanwhile left it right up until the flag before setting a great lap to see him qualify in fifth while Dennis will start the second race of the weekend alongside his team mate in sixth. This morning’s podium finisher Daruvala rounded off a strong day with 10th position.

Norris said of his front row start, “We waited quite a long time in the pits before heading out – and everyone else did the same. As soon as we left the pits, everyone else followed which is understandable because we all want a slip stream around here. I really struggled to get a lap in though. Every time I was on a fast lap I had cars ahead that were braking and backing off, so that ended up ruining quite a few laps. In the end, I just decided to find my own bit of space and ignore trying to find a tow. So that meant that we could get a banker lap in at least. It was the same story on each lap I tried throughout qualifying so it was really quite messy out there. I think qualifying second overall is really good all things considering and I’m very happy with my performance.”

The second race of the weekend will get underway at 11am local time.