F3: Rafael Camara wins first qualifying of the season

F3: Rafael Camara wins first qualifying of the season

      Rafael Camara showed the best time in the first qualifying of the new Formula 3 season in Melbourne. Alongside a member of the Ferrari Racing Academy, his Trident team-mate Noah Stromsted will start from the front row of Sunday's race.

      This year, Formula 3 switched to a new generation of cars, and the DAMS team appeared in the youth series, replacing Jenzer Motorsport. The AIX Racing team has confirmed Nikita Bedrin's participation in the Australian stage.

      The racers immediately rush to the track as soon as the countdown of the 30-minute qualifying session begins. After completing two warm-up laps, they started making quick attempts. Roman Bilinsky topped the record, completing a lap in 1:36.125 s, but his result was soon surpassed by Noah Stromsted (1:35.898 s).

      The riders made mistakes going into the gravel, but there were no serious incidents. Soon, Bedrin rose to the first place – 1:35.873 s. Nikita's result was surpassed by Teofil Nael – 1:35.566 s, after which many completed the first attempt and returned to the pits.

      For the second series of fast laps, most of the riders left when there were less than ten minutes left until the end of qualifying. They warmed up the tires again for two laps, after which they began the decisive attempts. But even before that, Rafael Camara, who started the second series of laps ahead of his rivals, rose to the first place in 1:34.999 s. Stromsted was close to surpassing his teammate's result, but lost to Kamara by more than a tenth.

      Five and a half minutes before the end of the session, first yellow and then red flags appeared on the track. The reason was Brando Badoer, who crashed the car. The Prema rider clipped the artificial grass at the exit of the second turn, the car spun around and was thrown into the wall on the opposite side of the track. The rear wing and suspension were damaged, and qualifying for the Badoer ended there.

      The pause lasted almost six minutes while the marshals cleaned up the wrecked car. After the resumption, the riders immediately rushed to the track in order to make the final attempt in the remaining five minutes.

      Theophile Nahel got into an unpleasant situation – he drove onto the highway with a cooling fan in the engine duct. He was able to get to the pits, but the stewards noticed the incident.

      Almost immediately, red flags appeared on the highway. This time, the reason was Christian Ho's stoppage due to technical problems with the DAMS machine. There were just over two minutes left until the end of the session, so it was decided not to resume qualifying.

      Rafael Camara remains the leader and will start Sunday's race from pole position. The starting grid of the sprint is reversible – the riders who took the first twelve places will start tomorrow in reverse order. Thus, Santiago Ramos starts from pole position on Saturday. Mathias Zagazeta will start the race with him from the front row.

      Pilot

      

      The Time Team

       Difference

       Circles

      

      1. R.Kamara

       Trident

       1'34.999

      -

      0-

      2 . N.Stromsted

       Trident

       1'35.128

       0.129

       10

      3. T.Nael

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'35.566

      0.567

      12

      4. N.Bedrin

       AIX Racing

       1'35.770

      0.771

      12

      5. T.Tramnitz

       MP Motorsport

       1'35.825

       0.826

       10

      6. Ch.Wurz

       Trident

       1'35.839

      0.840

      10

      7. T.Intrafuvasak

       Campos Racing

       1'35.924

      0.925

      11

      8. U.Ugochukwu

       Prema Racing

       1'36.038

      1.039

      10

      9. M.Stenshorn

      Hitech TGR

       1'36.119

       1.120

       13

      

      10. R.Bilinsky

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'36.125

       1.126

       13

      

      11. M.Zagazeta

       DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'36.232

       1.233

       11

      

      12. S.Ramos

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'36.268

       1.269

       12

      

      13. D.Dufek

       Hitech TGR

       1'36.292

       1.293

       12

      

      14. A.Giusti

       MP Motorsport

       1'36.336

       1.337

       10

      

      15. L. Sharpe

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'36.344

       1.345

       13

      

      16. N.Tsolov

       Campos Racing

       1'36.490

       1.491

       11

      

      17. L. van Hoepen

       ART Grand Prix

       1'36.655

       1.656

       10

      

      18. K.Voisin

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'36.669

       1.670

       11

      

      19. B.Badoer

       Prema Racing

       1'36.702

       1.703

       09

      

      20. N.Leon

       Prema Racing

       1'36.742

       1.743

       10

      

      21. X.Sagrera

       AIX Racing

       1'36.818

       1.819

       13

      

      22. D. Wharton

       ART Grand Prix

       1'36.988

       1.989

       10

      

      23. K.Ho

      DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'37.181

       2.182

       12

      

      24.

      M.de Campos Racing

       1'37.426

       2.427

       11

      

      25. t.Taponen

       ART Grand Prix

       1'37.574

       2.575

       09

      

      26. J.Si

      Hitech TGR

       1'37.819

       2.820

       11

      

      27. I. Dominguez

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'38.117

       3.118

       12

      

      28. N. Marinangeli

       AIX Racing

       1'38.786

       3.787

       12

      

      29. N. Lacorte

       DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'49.362

       14.363

       11

      

      30. B.del Pino

       MP Motorsport

       1'36.971

       1.972

       10

Other articles

Lando Norris: The car is unstable in corners Lando Norris: The car is unstable in corners McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris lost less than two tenths to the leader of the second session of free races in Melbourne, Charles Leclair. Nevertheless, the mood in the team is different – if Piastri is happy, then his partner still has questions about the MCL39 car. Aston Martin has launched a new wind tunnel Aston Martin has launched a new wind tunnel The Aston Martin team announces the launch of a new wind tunnel at the Silverstone base... Oscar Piastri: I will fight for the title! Oscar Piastri: I will fight for the title! Before the home stage, Oscar Piastri extended his contract with McLaren and was happy to talk to reporters... Wasser: Lewis works with such energy, like he's a beginner. Wasser: Lewis works with such energy, like he's a beginner. Frederic Wasser, the head of the Ferrari team, was more than commendable about the beginning of the collaboration with Lewis Hamilton... Brown: We don't want the drivers to be distracted from their work. Brown: We don't want the drivers to be distracted from their work. Zach Brown commented on the early extension of the long-term contract with Oscar Piastri, and hinted that McLaren will use team tactics... Video: New trailer for the F1 movie Video: New trailer for the F1 movie We have written about the F1 movie more than once and will probably write more than once, and today is another reason to return to this topic: the Warner Bros. film company. I've released a new trailer for it...

F3: Rafael Camara wins first qualifying of the season

Rafael Camara showed the best time in the first qualifying of the new Formula 3 season in Melbourne.