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