Minì secures third spot in messy Monza Qualifying
PREMA Racing's Gabriele Minì had a solid run in Qualifying for the final round of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship at Monza and will start Sunday's Feature Race in the third position. In the group-split qualifying session, traffic and slowing cars were the main issues, and that led to a red flag that was followed by a one-lap showdown where Minì finished second.
While he will strart from Row 2 on Sunday, the stewards decided to demote all drivers in Group A because of the slowing down and backups. The Italian will also have the chance to gain more points but will need to attempt doing so from the mid of the pack.
Heavy traffic happened again in Group 2, and drivers had to find the right way to put together the lap. Eventually, the lap times were generally slower than in the opening segment. Dino Beganovic made progress from practice, finishing in P5, which will result in P10 for the Feature Race and P3 for Saturday's Sprint Race.
Arvid Lindblad had a challenging session and finished P9 in group, and will have to start both races from the 9th row of the grid.
#1 DINO BEGANOVIC
"Not really where we want to be. We made a good change on the car for qualifying, and it felt better but definitely, I didn't have enough laps to adapt and put the perfect lap. Going with such a big change from FP to qualy is tricky, but the positive thing is that it was in the right direction. We are definitely looking better for the races, and we are in a good position to score points both on Saturday and Sunday. We'll do our best."
#2 GABRIELE MINÌ
"We got the result we wanted, as our goal is to be in the top 3 or top 5 to try and fight for the win in both races. It was a messy session, with a lot of traffic at every stage of it. We just had one push lap, and made it matter with P2 in group and P3 overall. We have a good perspective on the championship fight. Performance is very close and we will fight tomorrow and on Sunday."
#3 ARVID LINDBLAD
"Like expected, a really messy qualifying session here at Monza. I think there are a couple of things I didn't manage amazing but we haven't reviewed it properly so I'm not really sure about what it was. It's going to be super difficult, we aren't in the top 12 so it's going to be a difficult weekend for me. We will try, but we are not in a competitive position."