Christopher El Feghali claimed pole position for the second Eurocup-3 race at Monza after edging championship leader James Egozi by just 0.006 seconds in an exceptionally close Qualifying 2.
The Drivex rookie produced a 1:41.605 on his seventh lap to move to the top of the classification, with Egozi responding with a 1:41.611 but falling narrowly short. Keanu Al Azhari put Hitech third, while Saturday polesitter Rafael Perard completed the second row for Palou Motorsport.
Only 0.241s separated the leading five, with Heitor Dall’Agnol placing another Palou Motorsport car fifth. Friday testing pacesetter René Lammers followed in sixth, while Santino Panetta and Ean Eyckmans completed the top eight ahead of Race 2.
El Feghali edges Egozi in battle for pole
El Feghali had already demonstrated promising speed during Friday’s Official Previous Tests and Saturday’s opening Qualifying session, but he converted that potential into pole when the field returned for Qualifying 2.
The Drivex driver set his decisive 1:41.605 on lap seven of 11, averaging 205.3 km/h around the 5.793-kilometre Monza circuit. His benchmark proved just enough to withstand pressure from Egozi, who completed a 1:41.611 on his sixth lap and missed pole by only six thousandths of a second.
The tiny margin continued a weekend of close competition at the Temple of Speed. El Feghali had finished ninth in Qualifying 1, 0.689s away from Perard’s pole time, but found a substantial improvement on Sunday morning to put Drivex at the head of the grid.
Egozi, meanwhile, again demonstrated strong outright pace after qualifying second on Saturday. Unlike in the opening session, where a five-place grid penalty prevented him from retaining his front-row starting position, the attached Qualifying 2 classification lists no equivalent sanction against the championship leader.
Al Azhari secures third for Hitech
Al Azhari delivered Hitech’s strongest Qualifying result of the Monza weekend by taking third.
The Emirati driver recorded a 1:41.777, leaving him 0.172s behind El Feghali and 0.166s away from Egozi. His performance improved on sixth in Saturday’s opening Qualifying session and placed him firmly among the Race 2 victory contenders.
Perard followed only 0.013s behind in fourth. After claiming pole for Race 1 with a 1:41.324, the Palou Motorsport rookie remained near the front and secured another strong starting position for Sunday’s contest.
The pair therefore form a tightly matched second row, with both drivers remaining within two tenths of El Feghali’s pole time.
Palou Motorsport places three cars inside top five
Palou Motorsport again demonstrated its depth by placing Egozi, Perard and Dall’Agnol inside the top five.
Dall’Agnol took fifth with a 1:41.846, only 0.241s away from pole. The Brazilian rookie improved from eighth in Qualifying 1 and finished just 0.056s behind teammate Perard.
Egozi therefore leads the team’s Race 2 challenge from the front row, while Perard and Dall’Agnol give Palou Motorsport two further cars immediately behind.
The result comes as Palou Motorsport continues to lead the Teams’ Championship, while Egozi carries a substantial advantage in the Drivers’ standings. With three cars starting inside the first five positions, the team enters Race 2 with several opportunities to collect another strong points haul.
Lammers takes sixth after Friday testing sweep
Lammers again remained among the leading group but could not reproduce the form that saw him top both Friday Official Previous Test sessions.
The MP Motorsport rookie recorded a 1:41.899 to take sixth, 0.294s behind El Feghali. Although he missed the front rows, the Dutchman improved slightly from seventh in Qualifying 1 and remains well positioned to challenge during the race.
Panetta produced one of the more significant improvements from Saturday, moving from 19th in Qualifying 1 to seventh. The Hitech rookie set a 1:42.036 and finished 0.431s away from pole.
Eyckmans followed in eighth with a 1:42.099. The Belgian rookie had qualified 11th for Race 1, so his Sunday result gives him a more favourable starting position as he attempts to reduce his championship deficit to Egozi.
Only 0.063s separated Panetta and Eyckmans, while Patrick Heuzenroeder finished another 0.026s behind in ninth.
Feldmann completes top 10
Alceu Feldmann completed the leading 10 for MP Motorsport after setting a 1:42.326 on his final lap.
The Brazilian finished 0.721s behind El Feghali and narrowly beat teammate Gianmarco Pradel, who took 11th with a 1:42.343. Only 0.017s separated the two MP Motorsport drivers.
Genaro Trappa put another Hitech car 12th, ahead of the two Griffin Core by Campos entries of Thomas Strauven and Enzo Tarnvanichkul. Remarkably, both drivers recorded identical 1:42.423 laps, with Strauven classified ahead.
Alex Powell followed in 15th after qualifying third on Saturday. The American rookie could only manage a 1:42.517, leaving him 0.912s away from El Feghali.
Kacper Sztuka completed the group within one second of pole in 16th. His 1:42.522 left him only 0.005s behind Powell, demonstrating how closely matched much of the midfield remained.
Caretti leads second half of field
Rayan Caretti led the second half of the 30-car field with a 1:42.814 for GRS.
Juan Cota followed in 18th after recovering from the red-flag incident that affected his opening Qualifying session. The TC Racing rookie recorded a 1:42.908, placing him ahead of Hitech’s Stefan Bostandjiev and Double R’s Bart Harrison.
Only 0.002s separated Harrison from Andrej Petrovic in 21st. Dani Maciá followed for GRS, while Nathan Tye and Stylianos Kolovos occupied 23rd and 24th for Drivex.
Benjamin Beckley took 25th ahead of Renzo Barbuy and Tommy Harfield, while Lorenzo Campos and Bianca Bustamante filled 28th and 29th.
Fiorentino causes red flag and loses best lap
Filippo Fiorentino endured the most difficult session after causing a red flag.
Officials deleted the Drivex rookie’s best lap under Article 30.7 as a consequence of the stoppage. His remaining valid time stood at 1:49.784, leaving him 8.179s away from pole and 30th in the final classification.
The Stewards also issued Fiorentino his first reprimand under Decision #31. No additional grid penalty appears on the final classification.
The lost lap proved particularly costly because the field remained extremely close throughout the majority of the order. While El Feghali and Egozi fought over thousandths at the front, even small improvements further back could have represented several positions.
2026 Eurocup-3: Monza: Qualifying 2: Final results
- #7 Christopher El Feghali (R) — Drivex — 1:41.605
- #48 James Egozi — Palou Motorsport — +0.006s
- #14 Keanu Al Azhari — Hitech — +0.172s
- #33 Rafael Perard (R) — Palou Motorsport — +0.185s
- #27 Heitor Dall’Agnol (R) — Palou Motorsport — +0.241s
- #99 René Lammers (R) — MP Motorsport — +0.294s
- #39 Santino Panetta (R) — Hitech — +0.431s
- #4 Ean Eyckmans (R) — MP Motorsport — +0.494s
- #5 Patrick Heuzenroeder — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.520s
- #8 Alceu Feldmann — MP Motorsport — +0.721s
- #12 Gianmarco Pradel — MP Motorsport — +0.738s
- #84 Genaro Trappa (R) — Hitech — +0.777s
- #9 Thomas Strauven (R) — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.818s
- #10 Enzo Tarnvanichkul — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.818s
- #41 Alex Powell (R) — Griffin Core by Campos — +0.912s
- #2 Kacper Sztuka — Tecnicar by Amtog — +0.917s
- #44 Rayan Caretti (R) — GRS — +1.209s
- #11 Juan Cota (R) — TC Racing — +1.303s
- #23 Stefan Bostandjiev — Hitech — +1.372s
- #77 Bart Harrison (R) — Double R — +1.419s
- #22 Andrej Petrovic (R) — Tecnicar by Amtog — +1.421s
- #70 Dani Maciá (R) — GRS — +1.492s
- #3 Nathan Tye (R) — Drivex — +1.572s
- #6 Stylianos Kolovos (R) — Drivex — +1.759s
- #20 Benjamin Beckley (R) — Tecnicar by Amtog — +1.815s
- #31 Renzo Barbuy (R) — TC Racing — +1.822s
- #26 Tommy Harfield (R) — Double R — +1.826s
- #91 Lorenzo Campos (R) — Double R — +2.066s
- #16 Bianca Bustamante — Palou Motorsport — +2.470s
- #37 Filippo Fiorentino (R) — Drivex — +8.179s
Pole position: #7 Christopher El Feghali — 1:41.605
Qualifying sanction: Officials deleted #37 Fiorentino’s best lap after he caused a red flag under Article 30.7. The Stewards also issued him his first reprimand under Decision #31.
El Feghali sets up tight Race 2 battle
El Feghali’s pole gives Drivex its strongest starting position of the Monza weekend, but the margins suggest Race 2 could produce a closely contested fight at the front.
Only 0.006s separated him from Egozi, while Al Azhari, Perard and Dall’Agnol all finished within 0.241s of pole. Palou Motorsport’s three cars inside the top five also give the championship-leading team considerable strength immediately behind El Feghali.
Lammers and Eyckmans keep MP Motorsport represented inside the top eight, while Hitech places Al Azhari and Panetta among the leading seven.
For El Feghali, however, Qualifying 2 represents a significant breakthrough. After finishing ninth on Saturday, he found more than four tenths relative to the front and delivered the decisive lap when it mattered, earning the right to lead the Eurocup-3 field away for Race 2 at Monza.
