Arthur Leclerc claims maiden FIA F3 pole at Hungaroring

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Ferrari junior Arthur Leclerc has taken his maiden FIA Formula 3 Championship pole position at the Hungaroring.

Track position was crucial around the tight circuit when all 30 drivers were on track during qualifying, and in the first runs it was Campos’s Lorenzo Colombo who impressively led the pack followed by Trident’s Jack Doohan in second.

The drivers then headed to the pits, with it all still to play for going into the second part of the session and a top 17 separated by only one second on pace.

Leclerc would top the timesheet with an impressive pace in the second run, and Doohan was only 0.096 seconds shy of it.

In the final seconds he was demoted to third, as Leclerc’s points-leading Prema team-mate Dennis Hauger edged ahead by 0.007s with his final lap.

Doohan caught traffic on his final lap, denying him a shot at pole and means he shares row two of the race three grid with team-mate David Schumacher. Trident’s third Clement Novalak qualified just behind them in fifth.

Late improvements from ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Smolyar in sixth kept him just ahead of team-mate Frederick Vesti, while Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargaent qualified eighth. Ollie Caldwell put Prema’s third car in ninth place.

Carlin’s Jonny Edgar will start from reversed grid pole in race one of the weekend due to finishing 12th. The British driver will share the front row with Colombo, who improved on his previous best qualifying performance of 18th to end up 11th fastest, while Hitech GP’s Ayumu Iwasa will start third after taking 10th in qualifying.

Leclerc will start 15th as he has a three-place grid penalty hanging over him from the previous round, and will take up his pole position slot in race three on Sunday.

Qualifying results