Jehan Daruvala scored his first pole position of the season with a scintillating late tour of Spa-Francorchamps in today’s FIA Formula 3 Qualifying. The PREMA Racing ace was the best of a late sprint to pole, beating out Trident’s Pedro Piquet and Jenzer Motorsport’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Christian Lundgaard led the cars out into the 35-degree track temperature, but it was Piquet who was hottest in the early stages, beating out both the Dane and Leonardo Pulcini for provisional pole. The Brazilian racer was swiftly backed up by his Trident teammate Devlin DeFrancesco, who looked much improved in Round 6 and was eyeing his best Qualifying of the season.
The two held their positions as the cars ducked into the pits for fresh boots and were the first back out on track for the final fifteen minutes of the afternoon. Armed with fresh tyres, the times started to tumble and the duo’s positions were under threat. Jüri Vips – hopeful of taking the title lead this weekend – was the first to steal provisional pole, with a time of 2.05.625.
The Estonian’s time on top was short lived as Piquet, Tsunoda and Robert Shwartzman leapt ahead of him in quick succession. With less than five minutes remaining and one shot at pole, Daruvala managed the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps two tenths quicker than them all and claimed his position in P1.
In the third PREMA, Marcus Armstrong was hoping to follow up his first win of the season in Budapest, with another strong weekend. The Kiwi complained of traffic on track and eased off in the hope of finding space, but it never came and he was left to settle for 19th.
When the chequered flag was waved, Daruvala was followed by Piquet, while Tsunoda secured his best Qualifying position of the season in 3rd. Shwartzman and Jake Hughes completed the front five ahead of Vips, DeFrancesco, Pulcini, Logan Sargeant and Liam Lawson.
Daruvala will be hunting down his first win since Round 2 when Race 1 gets underway at 10.35am local time tomorrow morning.
FIA Formula 3 Round 6 – Qualifying provisional classification
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS
1 Jehan Daruvala PREMA Racing 2:05.125 11
2 Pedro Piquet Trident 2:05.356 10
3 Yuki Tsunoda Jenzer Motorsport 2:05.540 10
4 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 2:05.605 11
5 Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB 2:05.614 10
6 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 2:05.625 11
7 Devlin DeFrancesco Trident 2:05.640 11
8 Leonardo Pulcini Hitech Grand Prix 2:05.701 11
9 Logan Sargeant Carlin Buzz Racing 2:05.709 11
10 Liam Lawson MP Motorsport 2:06.060 11
11 Alex Peroni Campos Racing 2:06.187 10
12 Max Fewtrell ART Grand Prix 2:06.207 11
13 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 2:06.255 11
14 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 2:06.270 11
15 Ye Yifei Hitech Grand Prix 2:06.274 11
16 Bent Viscaal HWA RACELAB 2:06.289 10
17 David Beckmann ART Grand Prix 2:06.333 10
18 Giorgio Carrara Jenzer Motorsport 2:06.396 11
19 Marcus Armstrong PREMA Racing 2:06.400 10
20 Teppei Natori Carlin Buzz Racing 2:06.420 10
21 Niko Kari Trident 2:06.475 11
22 Keyvan Andres HWA RACELAB 2:06.537 10
23 Felipe Drugovich Carlin Buzz Racing 2:06.606 10
24 Raoul Hyman Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2:06.614 10
25 Sebastian Fernandez Campos Racing 2:07.251 10
26 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport 2:07.475 10
27 Simo Laaksonen MP Motorsport 2:07.503 10
28 Fabio Scherer Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2:08.014 10
29 Lirim Zendeli Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2:08.076 9
30 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing 2:08.898 10