Camara claims F3 pole in Hungary, Tsolov suffers title blow

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Rafael Camara claimed pole position in FIA Formula 3 qualifying at the Hungaroring to strengthen his grip on the championship as his rivals struggled.

The Trident driver was fastest by 0.008 seconds over Campos Racing’s Mari Boya, whose team-mate Nikola Tsolov is Camara’s closest rival in the championship but qualified in 21st place.

Qualifying was not smooth sailing for Camara, as he moved up and down the order. His opening laptime, which put him fifth, was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn four.

Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu set the early pace with a 1m33.436s, but was quickly displaced by Trident’s Noah Stromsted who set a 1m33.354s.

Campos opted to release their cars later, which proved beneficial as Boya stole provisional pole with a 1m33.013s and team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak went second fastest.

With the clock ticking down, Prema’s Brando Badoer hit the front with a 1m32.891s, only to be quickly displaced by MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti.

The latter’s stint at the front did not last long though as Trident’s Charlie Wurz took to the top with a 1m32.737s and Ugochukwu just a thousandth of a second behind.

Traffic began to pose a problem as drivers prepared for their final laps, with the field concertinaing up in the final corner.

As Camara attempted to pass and get clean air, the Brazilian was forced into the pitlane as cars blocking his route meant he had to overtake them via the pitlane to complete an extra build lap.

Other drivers further around the track began to improve, and ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen secured provisional pole with Hitech GP’s Gerrard Xie an impressive third.

Camara’s strategy put him into clean air, and he set a 1m32.510s which elevated him to pole position. Boya, another title contender, got very close to his pace and Taponen and Xie fell no further than third and fourth.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Theophile Nael went just 0.001s slower than Xie in fifth. Despite clean air, Tsolov was down in 21st due to being 0.527s off Camara’s pace.

Inthraphuvasak claimed reversed-grid pole by qualifying 12th, with AIX Racing’s James Hedley set to line up alongside him for Saturday’s sprint race.

Qualifying results