Photo: Pauline Ballet
Rafael Camara led a Trident one-two on his debut in qualifying for the first FIA Formula 3 Championship round of 2025 in Melbourne.
The reigning Formula Regional Europe champion came shy of matching the benchmark pace he had set in free practice, as the new Dallara F3 2025 car appeared in a qualifying session for the first time.
Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski was fastest at first with a 1m36.125s lap, and Camara was on course to beat him before encountering traffic in the final sector that left him just shy of taking top spot.
His team-mate Noah Stromsted had no such trouble and brought the pace down into the 1m35s, then AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin set a 1m35.873s lap 10 minutes into the half-hour session to hold provisional pole.
It took another 10 minutes for Bedrin’s effort to be beaten, and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Theophile Nael shot to the top by 0.307 seconds. MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz utilised a clean track to slot into third, and Camara soon had the same conditions which he utilised to record a 1m34.999s.
He was over half a second clear at the top, until Stromsted set a 1m35.128s and rose to second place.
The final fresh tyre runs took place on a busier track, and were interrupted by Prema’s Brando Badoer spinning into the barriers and causing red flags. He had his fastest lap deleted as a penalty, dropping him down the order from 19th.
There was enough time for a restart, but red flags then appeared again when DAMS’ Christian Ho got stuck in neutral and stopped on track. It secured pole for Camara, and outside of the top five Trident’s Charlie Wurz and Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak were the only other two drivers within a second of pole.
Based on their laptimes in free practice, DAMS’ Niko Lacorte and MP’s Bruno del Pino have been given permission to start both races after qualifying outside of the maximum time. Lacorte had his best lap and del Pino had his fastest two deleted for exceeding track limits.
VAR was fined €500 (£418.75) for releasing Nael’s car with a blower mounted in the airbox.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rafael Camara | Trident | 1m34.999s | 10 | |
| 2 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 1m35.128s | +0.129s | 10 |
| 3 | Theophile Nael | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m35.566s | +0.567s | 12 |
| 4 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | 1m35.770s | +0.771s | 12 |
| 5 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 1m35.825s | +0.826s | 10 |
| 6 | Charlie Wurz | Trident | 1m35.839s | +0.840s | 10 |
| 7 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Campos Racing | 1m35.924s | +0.925s | 11 |
| 8 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Prema | 1m36.038s | +1.039s | 10 |
| 9 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 1m36.119s | +1.120s | 13 |
| 10 | Roman Bilinski | Rodin Motorsport | 1m36.125s | +1.126s | 13 |
| 11 | Matias Zagazeta | DAMS | 1m36.232s | +1.233s | 11 |
| 12 | Santiago Ramos | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.268s | +1.269s | 12 |
| 13 | Joshua Dufek | Hitech GP | 1m36.292s | +1.293s | 12 |
| 14 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 1m36.336s | +1.337s | 10 |
| 15 | Louis Sharp | Rodin Motorsport | 1m36.344s | +1.345s | 13 |
| 16 | Nikola Tsolov | Campos Racing | 1m36.490s | +1.491s | 11 |
| 17 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix | 1m36.655s | +1.656s | 10 |
| 18 | Callum Voisin | Rodin Motorsport | 1m36.669s | +1.670s | 11 |
| 19 | Noel Leon | Prema | 1m36.742s | +1.743s | 10 |
| 20 | Javier Sagrera | AIX Racing | 1m36.818s | +1.819s | 13 |
| 21 | Brando Badoer | Prema | 9 | ||
| 22 | James Wharton | ART Grand Prix | 1m36.988s | +1.989s | 10 |
| 23 | Christian Ho | DAMS | 1m37.181s | +2.182s | 12 |
| 24 | Mari Boya | Campos Racing | 1m37.426s | +2.427s | 11 |
| 25 | Tuukka Taponen | ART Grand Prix | 1m37.574s | +2.575s | 9 |
| 26 | Gerrard Xie | Hitech GP | 1m37.819s | +2.820s | 11 |
| 27 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m38.117s | +3.118s | 12 |
| 28 | Nicola Marinangeli | AIX Racing | 1m38.786s | +3.787s | 12 |
| 29 | Niko Lacorte | DAMS | 1m49.362s | +14.363s | 11 |
| 30 | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | 1m53.658s | +18.659s | 10 |