After a practice session that saw Martinius Stenshorne of Hitech Pulse-Eight go the fastest with a 1:28.774, it was time for the qualifying session of the fifth round of the 2024 Formula 3 season.
The lights went green and the drivers made their way on to the track for their tyre preparation laps. They were vying for an ideal track position, gearing up for the fast laps.
Prema’s Dino Beganovic had slight traffic to avoid at the end of his first lap, but his teammates Gabriele Minì and Arvin Lindblad were able to beat his time.
Laurens van Hoepen was the first to set the benchmark time. The ART Grand Prix driver went the fastest with a 1:29.187s. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli followed close by in P2 and Christian Mansell in P3.
After the drivers finished their first set of laps, they returned to the pitlane, returning with fresh hard tyres. With 18 minutes to go, the drivers looked to improve their times.
Into the final 15 minutes of the session, there was an intense battle for pole position, as Luke Browning set the new fastest time with a 1:28.888, with Spanish driver Mari Boya shooting up to P2, just 0.0006s behind. Mansell improved his time but stayed in third, 0.015s behind Browning.
The margins were tight, as the top five drivers were separated by just 0.098s.
It did not look good for Beganovic, who lost his best lap time due to track limits and was P29. The rest of the drivers were going for more flying laps, trying to beat Browning.
Browning improved his time to a 1:28.519, but it was Lindblad who dethrones him by 0.020s. Nikola Tsolov made his presence known, moving up to P2, just 0.003s behind.
Unlucky for Lindblad because it was Christian Mansell who took the top spot with a 1:28.463. Lindblad and Tsolov had to settle for P2 and P3.
After leading the pack, Browning qualified in fourth, with Oliver Goethe and Leonardo Fornaroli in fifth and sixth.
Free practice leader Stenshorne qualified in P7, with Van Hoepen in eighth, followed by Alex Dunne in ninth for MP Motorsport.
Rounding out the top 12 are Sebastian Montoya, Boya and Sami Meguetounif.
