The beginning of the second round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship season for ACI Team Italia's representative Gabriele Minì is certainly promising, as he secured the second-best time in the official practice session held at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. This marks the second consecutive year that the circuit hosts a championship event for the cadet series.

The driver from Palermo, who celebrated his nineteenth birthday ahead of the event, confirmed his excellent rapport with the Australian track, where he secured the front row last year setting the fastest time.

This year, Gabriele Minì led the free practice session and the entire qualifying session until moments before the end, when he slipped to second place by less than twenty milliseconds. Nevertheless, it's an excellent result, allowing the nineteen-year-old representative of ACI Team Italia to start from the front row in the Feature Race, to be held in Melbourne on Sunday morning at 9:05 local time - or 23:05 Saturday night in Italy. Melbourne's time zone is GMT +11.

The Prema Team driver missed the pole position by just nineteen milliseconds. Due to the inversion of the first twelve positions on the starting grid of the Sprint Race, the Italian talent will start from the eleventh position on the starting grid of the short race, scheduled for tomorrow at 11:10 local time - or 1:10 at night in Italy.

The beginning of the second round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship season for ACI Team Italia's representative Gabriele Minì is certainly promising, as he secured the second-best time in the official practice session held at the semi-permanent Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. This marks the second consecutive year that the circuit hosts a championship event for the third series.

The driver from Palermo, who celebrated his nineteenth birthday ahead of the event, confirmed his excellent rapport with the Australian track where he secured the front row last year, setting the fastest time.

This year, Gabriele Minì led the free practice session and the entire qualifying session until moments before the end, when he slipped to second place by less than twenty milliseconds. Nevertheless, it's an excellent result, allowing the twenty-year-old representative of ACI Team Italia to start from the front row in the main race, the Feature Race, to be held in the capital of the state of Victoria on Sunday morning at 9:05 local time, or 23:05 Saturday night in Italy. Melbourne's time zone is GMT +11.

The Prema Team driver missed the pole position by just nineteen milliseconds. Due to the inversion of the first twelve positions on the starting grid of the Sprint Race, the Italian talent will start from the eleventh position on the grid of the short race, scheduled for tomorrow at 11:10 local time, or 1:10 at night in Italy.

"It certainly wasn't a bad session," Minì commented. "Throughout the weekend, we never dropped below second place. An incident ahead of me ruined my first attempt with the second set of fresh tires. So, I had only one attempt, under a lot of pressure, and I think I did quite well. It's a shame to be second, but we achieved the goal of consistently being at the front."

Also excellent the second position achieved at the end of the qualifying session by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is participating in the third round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Melbourne.

The rookie from Bologna, representing ACI Team Italia, making his debut in the category and on the challenging Australian circuit, had a weekend marked by consistent competitiveness, as evidenced by his excellent third place secured by the driver during the forty-five-minute free practice session.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli did even better in the qualifying session, maintaining concentration despite numerous interruptions that characterized the session, and he made a late surge that earned him the second position on the starting grid of the Feature Race, scheduled for Sunday at 11:30 local time - 1:30 Italian time. The seventeen-year-old Italian driver will start from the ninth position on the starting grid of the Sprint Race, scheduled for Saturday at 12:15 local time - 4:10 in Italy.

"I'm quite happy with today's result; I felt really good on this track," commented the teenage driver from Bologna. "I need to improve because I'm still making some small mistakes. I gained confidence during the session, but I pushed a bit beyond the limit and lost some time in the lap. Overall, my single-seater is performing much better, and it's a good result to have secured the second time. I think we could have done a little more today, but now let's see what we can do in the two races ahead."