F3: Zach O’Sullivan takes pole for the first time of the season

Zach O’Sullivan took pole position in Formula 3 qualifying at Hungary’s Hungaroring. For the Prema driver this is the first pole of the season and the second of his career. Together with him from the front row in Sunday’s race, his teammate Dino Beganovich will start.

At the start of Formula 3 qualifying, the optimal trajectory on the track was almost completely dry, but some drivers decided to make the first attempt on wet tyres. Before they could start any fast laps, yellow flags appeared on the track due to Max Esterson, who was flipped on the exit of turn two. Racer Rodin Carlin did not crash the car, but stopped.

The first time was set by Leonardo Fornaroli on slicks. Gabriel Bortoleto, who finished second on wet tyres, was more than two seconds behind him.

With each lap, the speed grew – protocol was led by Chao Collet with a score of 1:45.726 s, but with 22 minutes left until the end of the session, qualifying was stopped by red flags. Oliver Gray crashed his car after driving onto artificial turf at the exit of turn three. Racer Rodin Carlin broke the front wing and damaged the front suspension, but was able to return to the pits under his own power.

Qualifying resumed after a five-minute break. This time the young riders did not experiment with wet tires and rode on slicks. Oliver Goethe led the protocol for a short time, but his result was surpassed by Marie Boya.

However, a full-fledged battle for leadership unfolded between Marty, O’Sullivan, Bortoleto, and Fornaroli. The leader of the first set of fast laps was Jose Maria Marti – 1:34.144 s, after which the riders went to the pits for new tyres.

For the last attempt, the riders started to leave ten minutes before the end of the session. They alternated on the first line and the best lap (1:31.091s) was set by Zach O’Sullivan, who was ahead of closest pursuer Dino Beganovich by four tenths of a second.

Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto showed the ninth fastest time, but he could still be fined for an unsafe return to the track. Second-placed Jose-Maria Martí qualified thirteenth, but if Bortoleto gets a penalty, Martti will move up to twelfth and, under the reverse grid rule, will start Saturday’s race from pole. Nikita Bedrin qualified eleventh.