Practice-
Alessandro Giusti led the way for MP Motorsport at the Monza Free Practice, topping the timesheets with a 1:37.445.
Tuukka Taponen set the early benchmark of a 1:40.020, with his MP teammate Giusti half a second behind in P2. Noah Stromsted then reduced the gap to Taponen to 0.337s as PREMA Racing debutant Alex Powell went up to P3.
Hitech’s Jin Nakamura then took over at the top but was quickly demoted to P2 by Mattia Colnaghi, who completed a 1:39.467.
The times were starting to pour in quickly as Hiyu Yamakoshi went to within 0.064s off Colnaghi. However, on his next lap, Taponen regained top spot with a 1:39.150.
Title hopeful Ugo Ugochukwu then went quickest on a 1:38.883, putting him 0.108s clear of AIX Racing’s Yevan David.
But Taponen was once again showing his strong pace as he went back to P1, this time on a 1:38.444, as Taito Kato followed him across the line to go to second, albeit 0.405s behind.
Taponen improved to a 1:38.437 but his lead was reduced with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Yamakoshi just 0.088s behind in P2.
With just over 14 minutes to go in the session, the teams fitted the Soft tyre on their cars as they prepared for some qualifying simulation laps.
The drivers returned to the track with less than 10 minutes left of Practice, with Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera going quickest on a 1:37.901.
MP were showing great form as Giusti set the Formula 3 lap record around Monza with a 1:37.445 to lead teammate Taponen by 0.232s.
Colnaghi then made it a 1-2-3 for the Dutch team at the chequered flag, just as Ugochukwu and Matteo de Palo made contact down the main straight, leaving both cars by the side of the road with damage.
That brought an end to a strong session for MP with Giusti ahead of Taponen and Colnaghi.
Qualifying-
Group A-
It was a slow start to the session but the drivers started to venture out with five minutes to go.
This gave most of them time for just one flying lap, with Hiyu Yamakoshi fastest on a 1:38.261. Taito Kato was just 0.014s behind but ahead of Fernando Barrichello in P3.
Critically, title contender Ugo Ugochukwu had a wide moment at Turn 1. Unfortunately for the Campos Racing driver he had no time to start another lap, having taken the chequered flag.
Matteo de Palo was one of the few who was able to get a second lap, and he went P1 with a 1:38.143, beating Kanato Le to provisional pole by 0.020s.
Kato wound up third ahead of Yamakoshi and Barrichello.
With the final runs complete, Ugochukwu wound up in P10, leaving him with an uphill task for both races.
Group B-
De Palo’s 1:38.143 was the time to beat and just like the previous group, the drivers stayed in the pitlane until the final few minutes of the session.
They all had time for just one flying lap and it was Freddie Slater that shone the brightest with a 1:38.114, beating Nicola Lacorte by 0.236s.
Ernesto Rivera was third ahead of MP Motorsport duo Alessandro Giusti and Mattia Colnaghi as Pedro Clerot rounded out the top 6.
Slater’s time was good enough to take pole position ahead of his Trident teammate De Palo, with Lacorte set to start P3.
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