Debutant Gabriele Mini set the fastest time in qualifying for the first round of the Formula 3 season in Bahrain. Together with driver Hitech, another Formula 3 debutant Gabriel Bortoleto will share the front row of Sunday’s race. The third time was ridden by Gregoire Sosi.
Formula 3 participants immediately took off for the first attempt and after two warm-up laps they started to attack. Gregoire Saucy was the first to show competitive times, but almost immediately a large group of riders led by Mini improved the result of the ART GP pilot.
Nikita Bedrin went off the track in turn 4 on the first fast lap and his good time was cancelled.
Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto was 0.030 seconds ahead of Mini on his fastest lap before returning to the pits. Mini managed to improve and finished the first set of fast laps as the leader.
After a break, the riders returned for a second attempt. Prema rider Zach O’Sullivan set the fastest time, while his teammates Paul Aron and Dino Beganovich completed their fastest laps in 5th and 8th respectively.
O’Sullivan did not stay on the first line – his result was surpassed by Chao Collet. Gregoire Sosi, who showed the third fastest time, lost less than tenth place to the leader. The times of José Maria Marti and Nikola Tzolov were scrapped for exceeding the limits of the track.
The riders returned for the decisive attempt with less than ten minutes left in qualifying. The fight for the front line was between Mini and Montoya – of the Hitech drivers, Gabriele proved to be faster, almost half a second ahead of his partner. Montoya’s result was surpassed by a large group of riders led by Bortoleto, but none could beat Mini’s time (1:47.055).
Nikita Bedrin set the 22nd fastest time in his first Formula 3 qualifying session. Sofia Flörsch, the only driver among the championship participants, qualified 25th.
On Saturday, according to the reverse grid rule, the first twelve places start in reverse order. For example, Jose Maria Marti will start tomorrow’s race from pole position. Together with him, Chao Collet starts from the front row.
| Pilot | Team | Time | Difference | Circles |
| 1. G. Mini | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1’47.055 | – | eleven |
| 2. G. Bortoleto | Trident | 1’47.112 | 0.057 | eleven |
| 3. G. Sosi | ART Grand Prize | 1’47.166 | 0.111 | 10 |
| 4. O. Goethe | Trident | 1’47.190 | 0.135 | eleven |
| 5. H Barter | Racing campos | 1’47,274 | 0.219 | eleven |
| 6. K. Frederik | ART Grand Prize | 1’47,283 | 0.228 | eleven |
| 7. L. Fornaroli | Trident | 1’47,290 | 0.235 | eleven |
| 8. D. Beganovich | Premium Racing | 1’47,320 | 0.265 | 10 |
| 9. P. Aaron | Premium Racing | 1’47,322 | 0.267 | 10 |
| 10. Z. O’Sullivan | Premium Racing | 1’47,344 | 0.289 | 10 |
| 11. C. Collet | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1’47,371 | 0.316 | 12 |
| 12. H. Marty | Racing campos | 1’47,391 | 0.336 | eleven |
| 13. F. Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1’47,398 | 0.343 | eleven |
| 14. K. Mansell | Racing campos | 1’47,451 | 0.396 | eleven |
| 15. S. Montoya | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1’47,476 | 0.421 | 12 |
| 16. D. Edgar | MP Motorsport | 1’47,535 | 0.480 | eleven |
| 17. N. Tsolov | ART Grand Prize | 1’47,593 | 0.538 | 10 |
| 18. L Browning | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1’47,694 | 0.639 | 12 |
| 19. M Boya | MP Motorsport | 1’47,885 | 0.830 | eleven |
| 20. R. Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1’47.950 | 0.895 | 12 |
| 21. O. Gray | Rodin Caroline | 1’48.200 | 1,145 | eleven |
| 22. N. Bedrin | Jenzer Motorsport | 1’48.203 | 1,148 | eleven |
| 23. P.Vishnitsky | Charouz’s PHM Racing | 1’48,515 | 1,460 | eleven |
| 24. Me Cohen | Rodin Caroline | 1’48,634 | 1,579 | eleven |
| 25. S. Florsch | Charouz’s PHM Racing | 1’48,659 | 1,604 | eleven |
| 26. H.Yini | Rodin Caroline | 1’48,685 | 1,630 | eleven |
| 27. T. Smith | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1’48,687 | 1,632 | eleven |
| 28. A. Garcia | Jenzer Motorsport | 1’49,184 | 2,129 | eleven |
| 29. R. Faria | Charouz’s PHM Racing | 1’49,465 | 2,410 | 10 |
| 30.T Bernard | Jenzer Motorsport | 1’47,547 | 0.492 | eleven |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
