Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Hitech GP’s Luke Browning stormed to his maiden FIA Formula 3 Championship pole in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.
The Williams junior, who had previously claimed an F3 pole in the 2023 Macau Grand Prix, was fastest by 0.084 seconds ahead of Red Bull juniors Arvid Lindblad and Tim Tramnitz, the latter recording his best qualifying result in the category.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon led the way early on with a 1m21.292s and, after brief spells at the top for Nikola Tsolov, Oliver Goethe and Gabriel Mini, the Mexican reclaimed the advantage with a 1m20.874s.
Mini responded on his next lap to go quickest by 0.005s, but it wasn’t long until Leon went fastest once more with a 1m20.804s. Trident’s Sami Meguetounif improved to third ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Tsolov, with most of the field heading to the pitlane approaching the halfway stage for fresh tyres.
Spots of rain fell as drivers commenced their second runs in the final few minutes. Browning led the pack, and he made use of a clear track in front of him to lower the pace by over 0.5s to 1m20.222s, while ART GP duo Laurens van Hoepen and Christian Mansell improved to second and third.
Mini reduced Browning’s advantage to 0.195s, but Tramnitz then edged the Prema driver into second by 0.006s. Browning was unable to improve on his next lap but still secured feature race pole, while Lindblad snatched second late on.
Mini slipped back to fourth, while his team-mate Dino Beganovic and Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe made late improvements to qualify fifth and sixth ahead of van Hoepen and Sebastian Montoya.
Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne is due to start from pole in the partially-reversed grid sprint race after setting the 12th quickest time. Points leader Leonardo Fornaroli had a difficult session and was on course for eighth place before his fastest lap was deleted, which dropped him down the order and means he will start both races from 24th.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 1m20.222s | 14 | |
| 2 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | 1m20.306s | +0.084s | 14 |
| 3 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 1m20.411s | +0.189s | 13 |
| 4 | Gabriele Mini | Prema | 1m20.417s | +0.195s | 13 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m20.424s | +0.202s | 14 |
| 6 | Oliver Goethe | Campos Racing | 1m20.467s | +0.245s | 14 |
| 7 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix | 1m20.517s | +0.295s | 13 |
| 8 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos Racing | 1m20.548s | +0.326s | 13 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | 1m20.563s | +0.341s | 13 |
| 10 | Nikola Tsolov | ART Grand Prix | 1m20.567s | +0.345s | 14 |
| 11 | Christian Mansell | ART Grand Prix | 1m20.609s | +0.387s | 14 |
| 12 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 1m20.665s | +0.443s | 14 |
| 13 | Noel Leon | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m20.680s | +0.458s | 15 |
| 14 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | 1m20.865s | +0.643s | 13 |
| 15 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 1m20.986s | +0.764s | 12 |
| 16 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 1m20.989s | +0.767s | 11 |
| 17 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 1m20.998s | +0.776s | 14 |
| 18 | Max Esterson | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m21.034s | +0.812s | 13 |
| 19 | Sophia Floersch | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m21.056s | +0.834s | 15 |
| 20 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | 1m21.071s | +0.849s | 13 |
| 21 | Tommy Smith | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m21.076s | +0.854s | 14 |
| 22 | Mari Boya | Campos Racing | 1m21.078s | +0.856s | 15 |
| 23 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m21.131s | +0.909s | 13 |
| 24 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 1m21.160s | +0.938s | 11 |
| 25 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 1m21.299s | +1.077s | 13 |
| 26 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m21.403s | +1.181s | 17 |
| 27 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing | 1m21.486s | +1.264s | 13 |
| 28 | Joseph Loake | Rodin Motorsport | 1m21.675s | +1.453s | 14 |
| 29 | Callum Voisin | Rodin Motorsport | 1m21.988s | +1.766s | 14 |
| 30 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin Motorsport | 1m22.058s | +1.836s | 13 |