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Qualifying report
FIA F3 Hungaroring

F3 Hungary: Smolyar takes pole as red flag causes traffic chaos

Alexander Smolyar took his first FIA Formula 3 pole of the season in Hungary after many of the front runners failed to make it across the line for their final lap. 

Alexander Smolyar, MP Motorsport

The MP Motorsport driver took provisional pole early on in the session, setting a 1m32.838s to take the top spot. 

Several other drivers, including Arthur Leclerc, were set to improve on their times when the red flag was waved after Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan came to a halt on the start-finish straight. 

With just two minutes left on the clock, the field emerged for a dash to the line to make their last attempts, but traffic caused many to miss out, including championship leader Victor Martins, all three Prema cars and Isack Hadjar. 

Smolyar did make it around in time for a final lap, improving to 1m32.740s to secure pole. 

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima shot up to second before having his final lap deleted, leaving him in 19th place, and promoting Zane Maloney (Trident) to second. 

Despite traffic problems, Ollie Bearman and Leclerc will line up on the second row. 

Franco Colapinto was first out on track for Van Amersfoort Racing to lead the 30-minute qualifying session, with Carlin’s Jonny Edgar first to set a flying lap of 1m34.457s. 

He was quickly toppled by Caio Collet, 0.9s quicker, with Hadjar slotting into second as the Prema cars pitted without setting a flying lap. 

Edgar briefly reclaimed the top spot with a 1m33.319s, before Smolyar went top again, leading from Bearman, Leclerc and Kush Maini (MP Motorsport). 

The field pitted again with 10 minutes remaining, with Leclerc and Bearman first out for Prema in clear air. 

But the red flag ruined any chances of improving, with Leclerc having been setting a purple middle sector while Ushijima was flying in the first. 

With two minutes left on the clock, the field raced out the pits in a bid to cross the line before the chequered flag, with Martins last out the pits. 

A slow running Jak Crawford hindered both his teammates, leaving all three Premas unable to set a last lap, the Red Bull junior lining up seventh for Sunday’s feature race. 

ART’s Gregoire Saucy will line up fifth, with Maini in sixth and Martins in eighth.  

Euroformula Open championship leader, Oliver Goethe, taking part in his first F3 weekend in place of an injured Hunter Yeany, will start on pole for Saturday’s reverse-grid sprint race, with Franco Colapinto in second and Hadjar in third. 

F3 Hungary: Full qualifying results:

Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 Russian Federation Alexander Smolyar
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'32.740
2 Barbados Zane Maloney
Italy Trident 1'32.866 0.126
3 Oliver Bearman
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'32.872 0.132
4 Monaco Arthur Leclerc
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'32.912 0.172
5 Switzerland Gregoire Saucy
France ART Grand Prix 1'32.941 0.201
6 India Kush Maini
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'32.944 0.204
7 Jak Crawford
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'33.009 0.269
8 France Victor Martins
France ART Grand Prix 1'33.040 0.300
9 Brazil Caio Collet
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'33.054 0.314
10 Isack Hadjar
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'33.075 0.335
11 Argentina Franco Colapinto
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 1'33.086 0.346
12 Oliver Goethe
Spain Campos Racing 1'33.106 0.366
13 Pepe Martí
Spain Campos Racing 1'33.124 0.384
14 Czech Republic Roman Staněk
Italy Trident 1'33.193 0.453
15 United Kingdom Jonny Edgar
Italy Trident 1'33.204 0.464
16 Spain David Vidales
Spain Campos Racing 1'33.217 0.477
17 Mexico Rafael Villagomez
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 1'33.271 0.531
18 United States Juan Manuel Correa
France ART Grand Prix 1'33.414 0.674
19 Reece Ushijima
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 1'33.516 0.776
20 Finland William Alatalo
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 1'33.710 0.970
21 United States Kaylen Frederick
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'33.748 1.008
22 United Kingdom Zak O'Sullivan
Carlin 1'33.759 1.019
23 Israel Ido Cohen
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 1'33.763 1.023
24 Christian Mansell
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'34.041 1.301
25 Brad Benavides
Carlin 1'34.115 1.375
26 Italy Francesco Pizzi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'34.206 1.466
27 Malaysia Nazim Azman
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'34.229 1.489
28 Italy Enzo Trulli
Carlin 1'34.391 1.651
29 Hungary László Tóth
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'34.961 2.221
30 Italy Federico Malvestiti
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 1'35.680 2.940

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