The ATS Formula 3 Cup kicked off its new season in perfect weather conditions today. Drivers from seven countries battled for the fastest time in today’s qualifying session in the support programme of the ADAC GT Masters at etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Markus Pommer succeeded after running shoulder to shoulder with Nabil Jeffri, taking the first start position in race 1. Having set the second fastest time, the Malay will start race 3 from the pole position.
The championship promises to be exciting, due to the fact that Nabil Jeffri (Motopark) and Markus Pommer (Lotus) took turns in posting the fastest time. The driver from Neckarsulm also set the fastest time in the free practice session, while the Malay was the quickest in yesterday’s collective tests. The German rookie and the eighth placed driver of the 2013 ATS Formula 3 Cup fought hard again in the qualifying session today. 23-year old Pommer posted the fastest time (1:20.229 minutes), with the 20-year old from Kuala Lumpur following 6 thousandths of a second behind. Dutchman Indy Dontje (Lotus / all in Dallara F311 Volkswagen) will start the first race from the third place.
Sam MacLeod (Van Amersfoort Racing), Nikita Zlobin (SMP Racing by ADM Motorsport), Nicolai Sylvest (JBR Motorsport & Engineering), Sergey Trofimov (SMP Racing by ADM Motorsport), Weiron Tan (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Andrés Méndez (Lotus / all in Dallara F311 Volkswagen) took the positions in the middle of the grid. Maxmilian Hackl (Amkon Motorsport / Dallara F311 OPC) will start the race from the last place.
Today’s qualifying session took place in sunshine and temperatures just below 20 degrees Celsius. The first race of the season will start at 10.35 a.m. on Saturday, the second race with a reversed grid of the eight best-placed drivers from race one will take place at 4.30 p.m. All races in the support programme of the ADAC GT Masters will be broadcast live on the ATS Formula 3 Cup website.
Markus Pommer: “P1 and P2, an almost perfect start into the season. I am very happy. Generally speaking, the lap was o.k. I made a small mistake and initially wanted to abort the lap. Now I am glad, that I completed it after all. Considering the technical issues in the practice yesterday I am more than happy.”
Nabil Jeffri: “It is a little sad, because it is better to be on one. I will push a bit more, but I think it is actually good to start from place two in the third race. Place one in race three, that is good! So it was a good qualifying after all.”
Indy Dontje: “I feel quite good because I did not do the first test and had only one practice session. So it was really good, even though I had some problems. Well, let’s see what tomorrow brings. I will do my very best.”