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Caio Collet took pole position at Spa-Francorchamps. Zane Maloney followed in P2 while Francesco Pizzi completed the top three.
Spa-Francorchamps was host to a very damp qualifying session for round seven of the Formula 3 championship.
As it happened
With traffic building, PREMA took an early one-two with Oliver Bearman leading while teammate Arthur Leclerc took P2. Championship rivals ART claimed the three-four, Gregoire Saucy taking P3 while Victor Martins claimed P4.
With just over 19 minutes remaining on the clock, the red flags were brought out as Jak Crawford spun out, leaving him unable to restart his PREMA.
š© RED FLAG š©
Jak Crawford is OUT of qualifying!
An attempted recovery post-spin sees the American beach himself in the gravel š©
Could this be the PREMA driver's championship hopes over? #BelgianGP #F3 pic.twitter.com/D61jr9Cc4I
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) August 26, 2022
As the cars peeled into the pits, Bearman was still in the top spot. Leclerc sat in P2 while Saucy claimed P3. Championship leaders Isack Hadjar and Martins made up the top five.
Racing Resumes
As the lights turned green, the grid made its way out on slicks.
Hadjar was the first to set a representative time taking the top spot with a 2:18.666.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Martins took the top spot off of his championship rival, crossing the line only 0.032 seconds faster.
After a flurry of lap times, Caio Collet topped the times with William Alatalo in P2 and Martins in P3.
With the track ever-drying, lap times continued to tumble. This came to the benefit of MP Motorsport’s Alexander Smolyar who took provisional pole with a 2:15.121.
This was, however, quickly beaten by Roman Stanek, who set an incredible 2:13.944, taking him to the top of the times.
As Collet and Stanek battled for provisional pole, Franco Colapinto managed to push himself up to P3.
With the checkered flag being waved, there was heartbreak for Hadjar as he came to a stop at turn one, bringing out the yellow flags.
At the front of the field, however, Zane Maloney took provisional pole with 2:11.551.
This wasn’t enough, though, as in a last-minute effort Collet crossed the line with a 2:11.289 giving him pole for Sunday’s Feature Race.
A disappointing session for the championship contenders as Martins classified P24 with Hadjar one spot ahead in P23 and Leclerc in P20.
Qualifying Classification
The top 12 classified as follows;
1st- Collet
2nd- Maloney
3rd- Pizzi
4th- Goethe
5th- Stanek
6th- Edgar
7th- Smolyar
8th- Bearman
9th- Colapinto
10th- Benavides
11th- Correa
12th- O’Sullivan
Formula 3 returns tomorrow (27th August) for round seven’s sprint race, where Zak O’Sullivan will start from pole position.
Head Image Credit: Alex Pantling via Getty Images
