ATS Formel 3 Cup – Narrow double pole for Markus Pommer

The ATS Formula 3 Cup kicked off its third of eight rounds with today’s qualifying in perfect weather and 23 degrees Celsius. Eleven drivers from nine countries battled for the fastest lap times in the support programme of the ADAC GT Masters event at Red Bull Ring, Austria. The racetrack was new territory for many them. Markus Pommer from Team Lotus has driven here before and proved that he handles the 4.326-km track best. Following the previous racing weekend at Lausitzring, the 23-year old took the double pole position again – a very narrow result. Van Amersfoort Racing is on his tail, since Sam MacLeod took second place for the first and third race, his team-mate Weiron Tan will start both races from third.

Markus Pommer (Lotus) dominated the qualifying right from the start, setting the fastest lap. Having scored a lap time of 1:25.979 minutes, the driver from Neckarsulm will start from the top position in races one and three. Dutchman Indy Dontje (Lotus), Malaysian Nabil Jeffri (Motopark) and Briton Sam MacLeod battled for the place alongside him in the starting grid. The latter succeeded, even though Malaysian Weiron Tan (both Van Amersfoort Racing / all in Dallara F311 Volkswagen) kept the second fastest time for a quite a while. In the end, the Caterham protégé achieved his best result of the season so far. He will start races 1 and 3 from third; MacLeod will be in second place for the start of those races. With his lap time of 1:25.994, he is less than two tenths of a second behind the championship leader.
The newcomer in the ATS Formula 3 Cup, American Santino Ferrucci, made an impression. The 16-year old secured a place in the middle of the field and will contest his first race in German Formula 3 tomorrow.

The ATS Formula 3 Cup on Saturday
Markus Pommer will have the opportunity to take his first victory at Red Bull Ring. The first race of the ATS Formula 3 Cup will kick off at 10.00 a.m., the reversed-grid race at 3.15 p.m. Live streams and live timing for all races will be available at www.formel3.de. Anybody interested will have a chance to meet the drivers contesting the ATS Formula 3 Cup at Red Bull Ring at 4 p.m. when the first three winners from the second race will take part in an autograph session at the ADAC hospitality.

Markus Pommer: “The qualifying today was pretty difficult. There was a lot of traffic. I am happy about my double pole position. But we will work on optimising the car so that we can put in a good performance again tomorrow.”
Sam MacLeod: “Everything went well and I am happy about the time I set. We will analyse all data and do our best to give Markus a hard time tomorrow.”
Weiron Tan: “This was my best result so far and I am very happy about that. We want to optimise a couple of things and put the competition under pressure. It will be my first race at Red Bull Ring, but I like the track.”