F3 Spa: Doohan scores first series pole in wet conditions

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’ teammate 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 teammate Roman Stanek in third, Johnathan Hoggard (Jenzer Motorsport) in fourth and Trident’s David Schumacher in fifth.

FIA F3 Spa Qualifying 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