Home Featured Jack Doohan takes Spa FIA F3 pole position in dramatic qualifying

Jack Doohan takes Spa FIA F3 pole position in dramatic qualifying

by Sam Williams

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Jack Doohan has taken pole position for the FIA Formula 3 Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps after an early lap in a rain-affected qualifying session.

With the rain starting to pour down to create tricky conditions as the session got underway, Trident driver Doohan made the most of an empty track to top the timing screens with a lap of 2m21.953s that would go unbeaten.

Right behind him, his team-mate Clement Novalak and ART’s Alex Smolyar went second and third quickest as the conditions worsened.

With just under 15 minutes to go, Juan Manuel Correa would spin off the track whilst pushing for a crucial time, and would end the session 27th.

With the minutes ticking down, the drivers continued to push and some were able to improve their times as the track dried out in places. 

However, in the dying moments a red flag brought the session to an early end with Tijmen van der Helm’s car stopped on the outside of Blanchimont.

That meant Doohan would claim pole position, 0.704 seconds ahead of Victor Martins, who took second place after improvements during the middle of the session. 

Smolyar bettered his initial time to take third, with Martins’ MP Motorsport team-mate Caio Collet in fourth and Logan Sargeant fifth for Charouz. 

Novalak ended up sixth with Frederick Vesti seventh and the last of the Trident driver David Schumacher in eighth. 

An impressive ninth from Jonathan Hoggard means he takes his best qualifying result, with Roman Stanek rounding out the top 10. 

Lorenzo Colombo claimed reserved-grid pole for race one after finishing 12th, with Jak Crawford to start alongside him.

Championship leader Dennis Hauger was 14th in a difficult session for Prema, one place behind Arthur Leclerc and four ahead of Olli Caldwell.

Qualifying result
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Jack Doohan Trident 2m21.953s 8
2 Victor Martins MP Motorsport 2m22.657s +0.704s 10
3 Alexander Smolyar ART Grand Prix 2m22.722s +0.769s 8
4 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 2m22.736 +0.783s 10
5 Logan Sargeant Charouz Racing System 2m22.775 +0.822s 9
6 Clement Novalak Trident 2m22.811 +0.858s 8
7 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 2m23.268 +1.315s 10
8 David Schumacher Trident 2m23.753 +1.800s 10
9 Johnathan Hoggard Jenzer Motorsport 2m23.785 +1.832s 9
10 Roman Stanek Hitech GP 2m23.816 +1.863s 9
11 Jak Crawford Hitech GP 2m23.964 +2.011s 9
12 Lorenzo Colombo Campos Racing 2m24.062 +2.109s 10
13 Arthur Leclerc Prema 2m24.254 +2.301s 8
14 Dennis Hauger Prema 2m24.288 +2.335s 8
15 Matteo Nannini HWA Racelab 2m24.388 +2.435s 10
16 Rafael Villagomez HWA Racelab 2m24.703 +2.750s 9
17 Ayumu Iwasa Hitech GP 2m24.848 +2.895s 9
18 Olli Caldwell Prema 2m25.025 +3.072s 8
19 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 2m25.077 +3.124s 9
20 Jonny Edgar Carlin 2m25.138 +3.185s 9
21 Tijmen van der Helm MP Motorsport 2m25.172 +3.219s 10
22 Amaury Cordeel Campos Racing 2m25.386 +3.433s 10
23 Oliver Rasmussen HWA Racelab 2m25.613 +3.660s 9
24 Ido Cohen Carlin 2m25.896 +3.943s 8
25 Laszlo Toth Campos Racing 2m25.961 +4.008s 10
26 Hunter Yeany Charouz Racing System 2m26.069 +4.116s 9
27 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 2m26.225 +4.272s 5
28 Zdenek Chovanec Charouz Racing System 2m26.715 +4.762s 9
29 Filip Ugran Jenzer Motorsport No time 0