F3: Brad Benavides starts from pole at Spa

      Brad Benavides posted the best qualifying time in Formula 3 at Spa and will start from pole for the first time in his career. Alongside the AIX Racing driver on the front row for Sunday's race, the championship leader Rafael Kamara will also line up.

      Friday's practice session was moved from morning to afternoon due to fog, and the Formula 3 organizers postponed qualifying entirely to Friday evening — the session started at 20:10 Moscow time.

      The drivers immediately headed out for their first attempt. After completing several warm-up laps, they began attacking at full speed. Christian Ho set the initial benchmark with 2:07.087, but as the fast laps concluded, lap times improved.

      At the end of the first attempt, the best time was set by championship leader Rafael Kamara — 2:05.557. Tasanapol Inthrafuasak, with the second-best result, was just over a tenth behind the Trident driver. Alessandro Giusti was third, two tenths off.

      Tim Tramnitz, second in the overall standings, posted the 18th fastest time in the first attempt, while Nicola Tzolov was fifth. Marie Boi and Noé Leon's times were annulled for track limits violations. However, Boi completed another quick lap and moved up to eleventh place.

      Eleven minutes before the end of qualifying, Théophile Naël posted the best time (2:05.508), prompting most drivers to leave the pits for their final attempt.

      Brad Benavides led the session with a time of 2:04.253, while Kamara was ten hundredths slower. However, Kamara's lap was almost immediately canceled for track limits infringement at Turn 10, dropping him to twenty-third. A few minutes later, stewards restored Rafael's time, and he moved back to second.

      Drivers then had time for one more quick lap, but the pack grouped up, and nearly everyone was caught in traffic. Under these conditions, almost no one improved, leaving Benavides as the session's quickest.

      Rafael Kamara retained the second position, while his title contenders, Tramnitz and Tzolov, qualified 13th and 7th, respectively.

      The sprint race grid is reversed — the top twelve finishers will start tomorrow in reverse order. Thus, Freddy Slater will start from pole on Saturday. Alongside him on the front row, Noé Stromsted will also begin the race.