Formula Master pole
JD Motorsport's Chris van der Drift claimed his seventh pole for Formula Master's round 15 in Monza, Italy, with a best time of 1:45.517.
The 22-year-old New Zealander secured pole in the first part of the 30-minute qualifying session, before it was red-flagged after a spin from ADM Motorsport's Michele Caliendo.
Euronova Racing's Yuhi Sekiguchi posted the second fastest lap with a best time of 1:45.922, ahead of Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer. The 19-year-old Swiss will start tomorrow's race in third place thanks to his best lap of 1:45.985.
Norbert Siedler, driving for Pro Motorsport this weekend, will start alongside Leimer in fourth place after posting a best lap of 1:46.019, whilst JD Motorsport's Sergey Afanasiev completed his best qualifying lap in 1:46.198 and will start tomorrow's race in fifth position.
Newcomer Mihai Marinescu qualified in sixth place with Pro Motorsport, ahead of Cram Competition's Arturo Llobell. Both drivers posted laps of 1:46.344 and 1:46.441 respectively.
Harald Schlegelmilch qualified highest of the Trident Racing drivers; his best time of 1:46.464 earned him eighth place. New team-mate Michael Ammermüller will start tomorrow's race in 17th place after posting a best time of 1:47.114. The German is the only driver left in contention for the Drivers Classification prize, a test in the Honda Racing F1 car, alongside van der Drift.
Formula Master newcomers qualified throughout the field; Euronova Racing's Oliver Oakes secured a P13 start with a best lap of 1:46.842, ahead of Iris Project's Simon Trummer whose best time (1:47.113) earned him P16.
Euronova Racing's Riccardo Cinti (1:47.568) and ADM Motorsport's Federico Scionti (1:47.739) will start tomorrow's race in 20th and 22nd place respectively, whilst Dominik Wasem secured P24 for Trident Racing with a best time of 1:48.321.
Eurosport's coverage for Formula Master's race weekend in Monza will begin Saturday 4 October with race one shown live at 12:15 (CET) on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific. Sunday's race two will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2 at 14:15 (CET).
Chris van der Drift, JD Motorsport "Seven out of eight! I'm really pleased with today; it's a good way to start the weekend. We pushed very hard in the first part of qualifying because it started to rain a little bit so we didn't know how much of the session we would be able to use; maybe three or four laps maximum. Then it stopped but there wasn't enough time to set a better time between red flags."
Yuhi Sekiguchi, Euronova Racing "On my first set of tyres, I was fast but didn't get a chance to put a perfect lap together. There were slower cars on some parts or sometimes a yellow flag. The second set was better, and on my last outing I was able to follow Fabio [Leimer] and use the slipstream behind him."
Fabio Leimer, Jenzer Motorsport "We really pushed in the later part of the session but there wasn't a lot of time left. In the last run, Yuhi [Sekiguchi] was directly behind me on each lap. I was faster in the corners but he could put some good times on the straight by using my slipstream.
"I didn't have anyone in front of me that I could use and drove alone for most of the time which isn't actually an advantage in Monza."
Formula Master - Monza Qualifying (Round 15) 1. Chris van der Drift (NZL), JD Motorsport (#6), 1:45.517 2. Yuhi Sekiguchi (JAP), Euronova Racing (#45), 1:45.922 3. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 1:45.985 4. Norbert Siedler (AUT), ADM Motorsport (#17), 1:46.019 5 Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#5), 1:46.198 6. Mihai Marinescu (ROM), Pro Motorsport (#41), 1:46.344 7. Arturo Llobell (ESP), Cram Competition (#1), 1:46.441 8. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31), 1:46.464 9. Tim Sandtler (GER), ISR (#19), 1:46.520 10. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 1:46.595 11. Josef Kral (CZH), Team JVA (#29), 1:46.632 12. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), Cram Competition (#21), 1:46.687 13. Oliver Oakes (GBR), Euronova Racing (#44), 1:46.842 14. Daniel Mancinelli (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#46), 1:46.905 15. Luca Persiani (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#25), 1:47.012 16. Simon Trummer (SUI), Iris Project (#35), 1:47. 113 17. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Trident Racing (#27), 1:47.114 18. Matei Mihaescu (ROM), Jenzer Motorsport (#24), 1:47.396 19. Filip Salaquarda (CZH), ISR (#18), 1:47.443 20. Riccardo Cinti (ITA), Euronova Racing (#36), 1:47.568 21. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), Cram Competition (#9), 1:47.585 22. Federico Scionti (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#20), 1:47.739 23. Tor Graves (GBR), Team JVA (#30), 1:47.836 24. Dominik Wasem (GER), Trident Racing (#47), 1:48.321 25. Tomas Pivoda (CZH), ADM Motorsport (#8), 1:48.612 26. Sergey Mokshantev, (RUS), Alan Racing (#43), 1:49.184 27. Michele Caliendo (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#22), 1:50.121
Weather/Track: Bright 17° / Dry 21°
