F3 Spain: Stanek beats Martins to pole in Barcelona

The Imola feature race winner had been running in 13th place for Trident before setting a 1m33.516s to claim pole, just 0.07 seconds quicker than the ART Grand Prix driver.

It continues his consistent run in qualifying so far this season, having qualified second at both Bahrain and Imola.

Alexander Smolyar will line up third for MP Motorsport, having topped the times earlier in the session before he was surpassed by Martins and then Stanek.

Hitech’s Isack Hadjar was the first driver to set a representative flying lap, with a 1m34.181s to top the timesheet early on.

But he was soon pushed down the order by Caio Collet (MP Motorsport), who was quickest with a 1m34.026s, before Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto and Martins also slotted in ahead of him.

The top 14 was running within just one second of the leader after the first runs, during which Stanek and William Alatalo (Jenzer Motorsport) took trips over the gravel at Turns 7 and 11 respectively.

Running resumed with 20 minutes left on the clock, with Hadjar briefly reclaiming the top spot before Ollie Bearman went fastest.

Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

The Prema driver’s time at the top was shortlived, with Smolyar next to claim provisional pole with a 1m33.613s.

Martins was next to take the lead, going just 0.05s quicker, while Arthur Leclerc (Prema) slotted into third, with Bearman in fourth.

The field emerged for their final runs with 10 minutes left on the clock, prompting heavy traffic at Banc Sabadell, with some drivers running three wide in a bid to be last across the line.

The final order had looked set as Martins, Smolyar and Hadjar before Stanek’s last-minute attempt put him top of the timesheet.

Trident’s Zane Maloney has lost his reverse grid sprint race pole after failing to stop at the weighbridge during qualifying and has been penalised with a pitlane start for both races in Barcelona.

Maloney's penalties hand Saturday’s reverse grid sprint race pole to David Vidales (Campos Racing), with Juan Manuel Correa moving up to second for ART as he returns from a stress fracture in his left foot which caused him to miss the last round at Imola.

2022 FIA F3 Spain: Qualifying result

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Roman Staněk	Trident	1'33.516
2	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	1'33.568	0.052
3	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	1'33.613	0.097
4	Isack Hadjar	HitechGP	1'33.726	0.210
5	Arthur Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	1'33.731	0.215
6	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	1'33.747	0.231
7	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	1'33.750	0.234
8	Kaylen Frederick	HitechGP	1'33.805	0.289
9	Jak Crawford	Prema Powerteam	1'33.825	0.309
10	Juan Manuel Correa	ART Grand Prix	1'33.857	0.341
11	David Vidales	Campos Racing	1'33.873	0.357
12	Zane Maloney	Trident	1'33.926	0.410
13	Franco Colapinto	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'33.963	0.447
14	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	1'34.040	0.524
15	Oliver Rasmussen	Trident	1'34.041	0.525
16	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	1'34.117	0.601
17	Reece Ushijima	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'34.180	0.664
18	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'34.317	0.801
19	Zak O'Sullivan	Carlin	1'34.320	0.804
20	Hunter Yeany	Campos Racing	1'34.342	0.826
21	William Alatalo	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.568	1.052
22	Lirim Zendeli	Charouz Racing System	1'34.686	1.170
23	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	1'34.735	1.219
24	Nazim Azman	HitechGP	1'34.795	1.279
25	Ido Cohen	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.866	1.350
26	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	1'34.973	1.457
27	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer Motorsport	1'35.096	1.580
28	Brad Benavides	Carlin	1'35.337	1.821
29	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz Racing System	1'35.549	2.033
30	László Tóth	Charouz Racing System	1'35.575	2.059
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