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Spa F3: Doohan scores first ever series pole in wet conditions

Jack Doohan took his first pole position of the season in FIA Formula 3 at Spa, battling wet conditions to take the top spot for Sunday’s feature race.

Race Winner Jack Doohan, Trident celebrates in Parc Ferme

Race Winner Jack Doohan, Trident celebrates in Parc Ferme

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The Australian, driving for Trident, took his best result despite early rainfall and a lack of grip, setting a 2m21.953s.

He will start alongside Victor Martins, who will also scored his best ever start in the series for MP Motorsport, with ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Smolyar in third place.

Martins’ team-mate Caio Collet will start fourth, with Logan Sargeant of Charouz Racing System starting in fifth.

Emerging onto the track with wet tyres amid difficult conditions, Doohan and Smolyar were the first two drivers to set push laps, with Doohan setting an early benchmark of 2m21.953s.

The middle section of the lap lacked grip, with conditions continuing to worsen ten minutes into the session, and many drivers struggling to stay on track.

ART’s Frederik Vesti attempted to set a quicker time than his previous best of 2m23.718s, which put him in seventh, but was forced to abandon his lap after running wide.

Rookie Zdenek Chovanec spun at turn one but managed to keep it running for his first qualifying, replacing Reshad de Gerus at Charouz.

Juan Manuel Correa (ART) also suffered a spin on the outside of turn nine and hit the wall, suffering damage to his rear wing, but managed to make it back to the pits.

As the rain stopped and the track dried up with 12 minutes to go, the duo of Martins and Collet moved up into second and third respectively, with less than a tenth between them.

Championship leader Dennis Hauger complained of having “zero grip” for Prema, despite their success in the dry this season, and said he felt the the fronts locking up, while sitting in 12th. He ended the session in 14th spot.

Smolyar managed to improve up to third on his last run, setting purple sectors in both the first and final parts of the track.

The session was red-flagged after Tijmen van der Helm (MP Motorsport) went wide at Blanchimont, forcing an early end to the session.

Lorenzo Colombo finished in 12th, putting him in reverse grid pole for Campos Racing in Saturday morning’s sprint race.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Jak Crawford will start in second, with team-mate Roman Stanek in third, Johnathan Hoggard (Jenzer Motorsport) in fourth and Trident’s David Schumacher in fifth.

Results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 Australia Jack Doohan Italy Trident 8 2'21.953  
2 France Victor Martins Netherlands MP Motorsport 10 2'22.657 0.704
3 Russian Federation Alexander Smolyar France ART Grand Prix 8 2'22.722 0.769
4 Caio Collet Netherlands MP Motorsport 10 2'22.736 0.783
5 United States Logan Sargeant Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 9 2'22.775 0.822
6 United Kingdom Clement Novalak Italy Trident 8 2'22.811 0.858
7 Denmark Frederik Vesti France ART Grand Prix 10 2'23.268 1.315
8 Germany David Schumacher Italy Trident 10 2'23.753 1.800
9 United Kingdom Johnathan Hoggard Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 9 2'23.785 1.832
10 Czech Republic Roman Staněk United Kingdom HitechGP 9 2'23.816 1.863
11 Jak Crawford United Kingdom HitechGP 9 2'23.964 2.011
12 Italy Lorenzo Colombo Spain Campos Racing 10 2'24.062 2.109
13 Arthur Leclerc Italy Prema Powerteam 8 2'24.254 2.301
14 Norway Dennis Hauger Italy Prema Powerteam 8 2'24.288 2.335
15 Italy Matteo Nannini Germany HWA AG 10 2'24.388 2.435
16 Rafael Villagómez Germany HWA AG 9 2'24.703 2.750
17 Ayumu Iwasa United Kingdom HitechGP 9 2'24.848 2.895
18 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell Italy Prema Powerteam 8 2'25.025 3.072
19 Australia Calan Williams Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 9 2'25.077 3.124
20 United Kingdom Jonny Edgar United Kingdom Carlin 9 2'25.138 3.185
21 Tijmen van Netherlands MP Motorsport 10 2'25.172 3.219
22 Amaury Cordeel Spain Campos Racing 10 2'25.386 3.433
23 Oliver Rasmussen Germany HWA AG 9 2'25.613 3.660
24 Ido Cohen United Kingdom Carlin 8 2'25.896 3.943
25 László Tóth Spain Campos Racing 10 2'25.961 4.008
26 Hunter Yeany Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 9 2'26.069 4.116
27 United States Juan Manuel Correa France ART Grand Prix 5 2'26.225 4.272
28 Zdenek Chovanec Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 9 2'26.715 4.762
  Filip Ugran Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 0    

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Previous article Spa F3: Novalak tops practice ahead of Rasmussen
Next article Spa F3: Colombo dominates wet race by 13s after delayed start

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