Friday's qualifying session officially kicked off the second half of the season for 17 drivers from ten countries. It took place at Nurburgring in hot summer weather with temperatures of about 33 degrees Celsius; unlike back in May when the ATS Formula 3 Cup was part of the support programme of the ADAC Zurich 24-Hour Race. Fog hindered the planned schedule. Emil Bernstorff and Marvin Kirchhofer handled the 3.618-km track in the Eifel at the sixth racing weekend of the season best. The Briton will start into the first race from the pole position; the driver from Leipzig will be the pole sitter in the third race. Sebastian Balthasar from Cologne set the fastest times in the Trophy ranking.
At first it seemed that Marvin Kirchhfer would continue his successful stint from the first half of the season. However, the championship leader from Leipzig did not secure the double pole, after Briton Emil Bernstorff (both Lotus / Dallara F311 Volkswagen Power Engine) set the fastest time (1:20.280min) in the third lap. He defended it until the end of the qualifying session, leaving the rookie, who set a time of 1:20.317min, in the second start position. Swede John Bryant-Meisner (Performance Racing / Dallara F311 Volkswagen Power Engine) continually set the third fastest time. In the end, Russian Artem Markelov (Lotus / Dallara F311 Volkswagen Power Engine) grabbed the third start position in the final lap. Therefore, the starting grid for race one on Saturday will see Bernstorff and Kirchhfer in the first and Markelov (1:21.079 min) and Bryant-Meisner (1:21.253 min) in the second row.
Based on his second fastest time, Kirchhofer will start into the third race from the pole position, with Bernstorff and Bryant-Meisner behind him.
Balthasar with double pole in the Trophy rankingDespite his summer flu the leader of the Trophy ranking set the fastest lap again and will start into the first and third race from the pole position. With this, Sebastian Balthasar (GU-Racing / Dallara F311 Mercedes) positioned himself in front of two Cup drivers, demonstrating his strength again. Swiss Thomas Amweg (CR Racing Team / Dallara F307 Mercedes) will join him in the first row for race one, followed by Freddy Killensberger from Wortelstetten (GU-Racing / Dallara F307 OPC-Challenge). Amweg and Killensberger will switch places in the third race.
Emil Bernstorff: After my stint in the European Championship I was able to quickly make myself familiar with the car again. I improved my racing style and pushed really hard.Marvin Kirchhofer:Second on the grid is certainly not a bad position. We know that our pace in the race is good and we will attack. Artem Markelov: I tried for a long time to gain another place and managed to do so in the final lap. I am pleased with my third place and will fight even harder tomorrow.Sebastian Balthasar:Everything went pretty well. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic. So I was not able to set a fastest lap. However, we saw that we have the pace. Tomorrow I would like to overtake a few more Cup drivers.
