Pau F3: Stroll takes pole for Race 1

Stroll led Prema teammate Nick Cassidy in Group B, whereas Group A saw a 1-2 for rival team Hitech, with George Russell leading Ben Barnicoat.

Russell's benchmark from the earlier session was a 1m22.154s, set in the closing stages as he overhauled teammate Barnicoat.

A late improvement from Maxi Gunther vaulted him up to third in group and what would end up sixth overall, with Sergio Sette Camara and Ryan Tveter taking up spots on rows four and five.

The time set by Russell was quickly surpassed in Group B, Canadian Stroll going quicker at halfway point and eventually setting a 1m21.832s lap in the dying moments.

However, it was not necessary for cementing his pole as none of the other drivers even beat Russell's Group A time, Cassidy coming closest in second place.

Local driver Anthoine Hubert and his teammate Callum Ilott were third and fourth in the session as Niko Kari made up the top five.

It was a baptism by fire for highly-rated debutant David Beckmann, who was last in Group B, 1.6s off, and is set to line up in 19th.

Qualifying results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Group A	Group B
1	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam		1:21.832
2	George Russell	HitechGP	1:22.154
3	Nick Cassidy	Prema Powerteam		1:22.198
4	Ben Barnicoat	HitechGP	1:22.311
5	Anthoine Hubert	Van Amersfoort Racing		1:22.397
6	Maximilian Gunther	Prema Powerteam	1:22.472
7	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing		1:22.422
8	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	1:22.597
9	Niko Kari	Motopark		1:22.503
10	Ryan Tveter	Carlin	1:22.641
11	Arjun Maini	ThreeBond with T-Sport		1:22.562
12	Alessio Lorandi	Carlin	1:22.676
13	Mikkel Jensen	kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport		1:22.613
14	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	1:23.366
15	Guan Yu Zhou	Motopark		1:23.010
16	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	1:23.560
17	Pedro Piquet	Van Amersfoort Racing		1:23.317
18	Nikita Mazepin	HitechGP	1:23.578
19	David Beckmann	kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport		1:23.437
20	Harrison Newey	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:23.825
21	Peter Li Zhi Cong	Carlin	1:24.633