Barcelona F3: Sargeant scores third pole in a row

Sargeant, who topped qualifying for both Silverstone rounds, eclipsed category veteran Jake Hughes by 0.111s to take the four bonus points on offer and give himself a five-point buffer over Prema teammate Oscar Piastri at the head of the standings.

Renault junior Piastri topped the opening runs at the start of the 30-minute session by 0.022s ahead of Hitech rival Liam Lawson, with Sargeant going third-fastest.

Several drivers took the opportunity to go for hot laps during the traditional mid-session lull while the track was quieter, with Lirim Zendeli (Trident) and Alex Peroni (Campos), who was second-fastest in practice, both setting outright best times.

But Peroni's benchmark of 1m33.407s was beaten when the field headed out for their final runs first by David Beckmann (Trident) and Hughes, who went over two tenths clear at the top with his time of 1m33.085s.

Moments later however Hughes would be demoted to second by Sargeant as the American recorded a 1m32.974s to seize the top spot.

Lawson made a late improvement to go third, bumping erstwhile points leader Piastri down to fourth, while lead ART Grand Prix driver Sebastian Fernandez completed the top five.

Next up were Carlin's Clement Novalak, Beckmann and Theo Pourchaire (ART), while Peroni and Zendeli found themselves demoted to ninth and 10th respectively.

On his return to FIA F3, Leo Pulcini - replacing Ben Barnicoat at Carlin this weekend - was a strong 12th-fastest, while Frederik Vesti qualified down in 15th in the third Prema entry.

Session results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	3	Logan Sargeant	Prema Powerteam	1'32.974
2	15	Jake Hughes	HWA AG	1'33.085	0.111
3	5	Liam Lawson	HitechGP	1'33.117	0.143
4	1	Oscar Piastri	Prema Powerteam	1'33.171	0.197
5	9	Sebastian Fernandez	ART Grand Prix	1'33.222	0.248
6	26	Clement Novalak	Carlin	1'33.239	0.265
7	11	David Beckmann	Trident	1'33.319	0.345
8	7	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	1'33.386	0.412
9	29	Alexander Peroni	Campos Racing	1'33.407	0.433
10	10	Lirim Zendeli	Trident	1'33.412	0.438
11	17	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	1'33.531	0.557
12	27	Leonardo Pulcini	Carlin	1'33.588	0.614
13	22	Matteo Nannini	Jenzer Motorsport	1'33.602	0.628
14	8	Alexander Smolyar	ART Grand Prix	1'33.682	0.708
15	2	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	1'33.685	0.711
16	14	Enzo Fittipaldi	HWA AG	1'33.762	0.788
17	16	Jack Doohan	HWA AG	1'33.782	0.808
18	28	Cameron Das	Carlin	1'33.826	0.852
19	23	Roman Staněk	Charouz Racing System	1'33.874	0.900
20	19	Lukas Dunner	MP Motorsport	1'33.892	0.918
21	12	Olli Caldwell	Trident	1'33.911	0.937
22	4	Max Fewtrell	HitechGP	1'33.934	0.960
23	18	Bent Viscaal	MP Motorsport	1'33.937	0.963
24	6	Dennis Hauger	HitechGP	1'33.976	1.002
25	20	Calan Williams	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.004	1.030
26	25	David Schumacher	Charouz Racing System	1'34.025	1.051
27	21	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.188	1.214
28	24	Igor Fraga	Charouz Racing System	1'34.273	1.299
29	31	Sophia Flörsch	Campos Racing	1'34.517	1.543
30	30	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing	1'35.181	2.207
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