Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Keanu Al Azhari and points leader Alex Ninovic topped a session each in Saturday’s GB3 qualifying at the Hungaroring.
Hitech GP’s Al Azhari scored a maiden pole for the opening race of the weekend, while Rodin Motorsport’s Ninovic pipped the Alpine junior by 0.024 seconds to take his third pole of the season for race two.
Ninovic was the first to post a representative time on his second flying lap in Q1, and his 1m38.291s benchmark didn’t stay unbeaten for long. Gianmarco Pradel lowered the pace by almost 0.6s, but Ninovic responded on his next attempt to edge his team-mate by 0.008s.
The Australian duo were swiftly beaten by Al Azhari, his 1m37.460s lap proving good enough to remain ahead at the session’s conclusion. Pradel improved to within 0.135s of the pole time, displacing Ninovic once more to seal a front-row spot for race one.
Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre pipped Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough to fourth by 0.010s, with Xcel Motorsport’s title contender Patrick Heuzenroeder and JHR Developments’ Noah Lisle close behind.
Ninovic was again the first to put down a notable marker in Q2. Following close behind, Abbi Pulling beat her Rodin stablemate’s time by more than 0.3s.
Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun was next to lead the way with a 1m38.547s, and Xcel’s Jack Sherwood, Lisle and Velocity Racing Developments’ Hugo Schwarze also enjoyed brief spells at the head of the timesheet.
Pradel set a new pace of 1m37.677s at the seven-minute mark before Ninovic set his pole-winning 1m37.445s moments later.
Al Azhari claimed second late on to take another front-row spot for race two, as Pradel was shuffled back to third despite making a further improvement to his time.
Lisle denied Fairclough fourth by 0.055s, with Macintyre sixth ahead of Pulling and Heuzenroeder.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP 1m37.460s
2 Gianmarco Pradel Rodin Motorsport +0.135s
3 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +0.245s
4 Will Macintyre Elite Motorsport +0.440s
5 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP +0.450s
6 Patrick Heuenroeder Xcel Motorsport +0.468s
7 Noah Lisle JHR Developments +0.500s
8 Abbi Pulling Rodin Motorsport +0.584s
9 Hugo Schwarze Velocity Racing Development +0.606s
10 Kai Daryanani JHR Developments +1.011s
Race 2 grid
1 Ninovic 1m37.445s
2 Al Azhari +0.024s
3 Pradel +0.147s
4 Lisle +0.370s
5 Fairclough +0.425s
6 Macintyre +0.505s
7 Pulling +0.548s
8 Heuzenroeder +0.641s
9 Schwarze +0.759s
10 Reza Seewooruthun Argenti w/ Prema +0.983s