F3: Rafael Camara starts from pole position in Barcelona

      Rafael Camara, a member of the Ferrari Racing Academy, showed the best time in qualifying for the fifth stage of the Formula 3 season in Barcelona. Nikola Tsolov, the leading Trident driver in the championship, will start Sunday's race from the front row.

      Friday's qualifying took place under cloudless skies and an air temperature of +31C. At the beginning of the thirty-minute session, the riders rushed to the track. After two warm-up laps, full-fledged attempts began.

      Rafael Camara was the first to set the approximate time, and almost immediately his result surpassed Tasanapol Intrafuvasak. For a few seconds, yellow flags appeared on the track due to Charlie Wurz's descent into the gravel at turn 12. The Trident racer returned to the track on his own.

      Tuukka Taponen took the lead after his fastest lap (1:29.391 s), while Tim Tramnitz clocked fourth. The Finnish rider remained the session leader after the first attempt.

      On the second attempt, the riders started to return 18 minutes before the end of the session. After two warm-up laps, everyone drove one fast lap at a time. Nikola Tsolov, whose lap was eliminated in the first attempt, showed the eleventh time.

      Laurence van Hoepen surpassed Taponen's time, but Rafael Camara drove his attempt even better – with a time of 1:28.761 seconds, the championship leader topped the protocol. Alessandro Giusti rose to the third place.

      The riders left for the final attempt six minutes before the end of qualifying. Nikola Tsolov added, but he couldn't reach Kamara – the second one. However, Rafael did not improve his time, but the result in the previous attempt was enough to win the fourth pole of the season. Tim Tramnitz, who is in second place in the individual competition, qualified tenth.

      The starting grid of the sprint is reversible – the riders who took the first twelve places will start tomorrow in reverse order. Thus, ART GP racer James Wharton starts from pole position on Saturday. Martinius Stenshorn from Hitech GP will start the race with him from the front row.

      Pilot

      

      The Time Team

       Difference

       Circles

      

      1. R.Kamara

       Trident

       1'28.761

      -

      10

      2. N.Tsolov

       Campos Racing

       1'28.977

       0.216

       11

      3. L. van Hoepen

       ART Grand Prix

       1'29.106

      0.345

      11

      4. T.Nael

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'29.114

      0.353

      11

      5. s.Ramos

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'29.150

      0.389

      11

      6. A.Giusti

       MP Motorsport

       1'29.195

      0.434

      11

      7. I.Dominguez

       Van Amersfoort Racing

       1'29.275

      0.514

      11

      8. N.Stromsted

       Trident

       1'29.291

      0.530

      11

      9. T.Taponen

       ART Grand Prix

       1'29.295

       0.534

       11

      

      10. T. Tramnitz

       MP Motorsport

       1'29.327

       0.566

       11

      

      11. M.Stenshorn

      Hitech TGR

       1'29.339

       0.578

       11

      

      12. D. Wharton

       ART Grand Prix

       1'29.383

       0.622

       11

      

      13. N.Leon

       Prema Racing

       1'29.390

       0.629

       11

      

      14.

      M.de Campos Racing

       1'29.432

       0.671

       11

      

      15. T.Intrafuvasak

       Campos Racing

       1'29.433

       0.672

       11

      

      16. K.Voisin

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'29.442

       0.681

       11

      

      17. L.Sharpe

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'29.465

       0.704

       11

      

      18. Ch.Wurz

       Trident

       1'29.485

       0.724

       11

      

      19. B.del Pino

       MP Motorsport

       1'29.515

       0.754

       11

      

      20. B. Benavides

       AIX Racing

       1'29.515

       0.754

       11

      

      21. B.Badoer

       Prema Racing

       1'29.551

       0.790

       11

      

      22. K.Ho

      DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'29.627

       0.866

       11

      

      23. U.Ugochukwu

       Prema Racing

       1'29.699

       0.938

       11

      

      24. H. Garfias

       AIX Racing

       1'29.716

       0.955

       11

      

      25. N. Lacorte

       DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'29.754

       0.993

       11

      

      26. R.Bilinsky

       Rodin Motorsport

       1'29.379

       0.618

       11

      

      27. J.Carrasquedo

       Hitech TGR

       1'29.975

       1.214

       11

      

      28. N. Marinangeli

       AIX Racing

       1'30.026

       1.265

       10

      

      29. M.Zagazeta

       DAMS Lucas Oil

       1'30.121

       1.360

       11

      

      30. J.Si

      Hitech TGR

       1'30.577

       1.816

       11