ART Grand Prix’s Charles Leclerc extended his lead in the GP3 championship after storming to pole position for the first race at Monza.
The Frenchman was placed near the front of the field after the opening runs in qualifying but a late flier saw Leclerc put in a 1m38.546 to go quickest.
His time proved to be unbeatable, with the Arden duo of Jake Dennis and Jack Aitken just two tenths further back in second and third.
Alexander Albon was fourth, with Jake Hughes fifth – although he has a three-place grid penalty for contact at Spa-Francorchamps.
Kevin Joerg, Nirei Fukuzumi and championship contender Antonio Fuoco were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Nyck de Vries was at the front of the pack early in qualifying but fell to ninth, with Ralph Boschung rounding out the top 10.
It was an eventful session, featuring a red flag for Giuliano Alesi’s Trident stopping on the track on the run to the first chicane with just a handful of minutes to go.
There was also contact between Artur Janosz and Arjun Maini on the run to Parabolica after the Trident car’s weaving, which briefly launched Maini’s Jenzer into the air.
They qualified 19th and 21st. Elsewhere, Alex Palou, Sandy Stuvik and Matevos Isaakyan were 11th, 12th and 13.
Arden’s Tatiana Calderon could only manage 15th and Matt Parry was down in 17, behind Alesi.
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