Paul Ricard GP3: Boccolacci leads French 1-2-3 in qualifying

Campos Racing’s Leonardo Pulcini had ended ART's lengthy GP3 pole streak in Barcelona in April, and GP3's dominant team has been denied once more at Paul Ricard, as Boccolacci topped qualifying for series newcomer MP Motorsport.

He was the last frontrunner to set a lap, unseating ART’s Anthoine Hubert from the top spot.

Hubert and Giuliano Alesi, son of Formula 1 driver Jean, were less than a tenth behind Boccolacci in a thrilling battle where multiple drivers in a variety of teams challenged, and the top 10 was separated by less than 0.6s.

Alesi of Trident – who won the season opening sprint race in Barcelona – narrowly fended off another ART, of Barcelona feature race winner Nikita Mazepin, while Pulcini rounded out the top five.

Niko Kari constantly ran just in front of his teammate Boccolacci on the road, but couldn’t match his improvement on the final run, although he did leap into the top six.

ART's Callum Ilott led after the first series of quick laps before drivers regrouped in the pits, but could only manage seventh, with a moment at the final turn hampering his last effort.

Alessio Lorandi, Pedro Piquet and Joey Mawson made up the top 10, having been shuffled down the order as the session went on - with Mawson having featured as high as third.

Just outside the top 10, Renault junior Christian Lundgaard impressed on his debut. He was just 0.6s slower than pole in 11th, having not driven the car before Friday practice after replacing Will Palmer in a one-off.

ART's fourth driver, Jake Hughes, again qualified outside the top 10, lapping seven tenths off in 12th.

Qualifying results:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Dorian Boccolacci	MP Motorsport	1'50.615
2	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	1'50.697	0.082
3	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1'50.708	0.093
4	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1'50.861	0.246
5	Leonardo Pulcini	Campos Racing	1'50.880	0.265
6	Niko Kari	MP Motorsport	1'50.900	0.285
7	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix	1'50.904	0.289
8	Alessio Lorandi	Trident	1'51.108	0.493
9	Pedro Piquet	Trident	1'51.134	0.519
10	Joey Mawson	Arden International	1'51.180	0.565
11	Christian Lundgaard	MP Motorsport	1'51.266	0.651
12	Jake Hughes	ART Grand Prix	1'51.308	0.693
13	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	1'51.338	0.723
14	David Beckmann	Jenzer Motorsport	1'51.409	0.794
15	Ryan Tveter	Trident	1'51.450	0.835
16	Juan Manuel Correa	Jenzer Motorsport	1'51.470	0.855
17	Simo Laaksonen	Campos Racing	1'51.614	0.999
18	Gabriel Aubry	Arden International	1'51.631	1.016
19	Julien Falchero	Arden International	1'51.758	1.143
20	Diego Menchaca	Campos Racing	1'51.797	1.182