Enzo Deligny delivered his strongest qualifying performance of the season at the final FIA Formula 3 (F3) Round in Madrid.
The Van Amersfoort Racing driver secured fifth in Qualifying 1 before backing it up with sixth in Qualifying 2, putting himself in a strong position for all three races across the weekend.
After a difficult run of results in Friday’s qualifying sessions, Deligny was pleased to finally showcase the potential he had been unable to fully demonstrate earlier in the season.
“It’s the best quali of the year for me,” he said. “It was definitely my point to work on this year, so this is nice for the confidence, as it’s for sure not an easy track.
“To be able to have two very solid qualifyings at the end of the year I think it’s good for the morale and the confidence as well.
“It was the most fun quali of the year as well. I like the back-to-back qualis, obviously if it goes well in the first one.
“But it’s nice because you start with quite a heavy car, almost a full tank. You feel the fuel going down every lap and you’re just fine-tuning every lap. So, honestly, it was really fun. The sunset as well made it quite cinematic, so it was cool.”
Comfortable and confident at Madrid
Reflecting on what had changed to improve his qualifying form this weekend, Deligny felt that being more comfortable and confident with the car had made the biggest difference in the F3 Madrid Qualifying sessions.
“I just felt really comfortable and confident in the car,” he said. “I was able to drive how I wanted to whereas a lot of qualis before the summer, I was quite confused in the car and wasn’t sure why it was reacting in a certain way.
“But we’ve put in a lot of work with the team, so I’m really happy to at least finish the year with a strong quali.”
With his strong starting positions secured for the three races, Deligny is now looking to make the most of the opportunity and finish his season on a high.
“I think it will be mainly about the start tomorrow,” he continued. “So let’s see. Our starts are usually not bad. But otherwise, I think the races are going to be quite like Monaco, not much overtaking.
“But let’s see. I’m not fighting for anything too meaningful in the championship. So I’ll just have fun, try and move forward if I can. But otherwise, I think most of the job was done today and just bring it home in the races.”
