F3: Mansell wins qualifying in Barcelona

Christian Mansell showed the best time during Formula 3 qualifying in Barcelona, ​​Spain. For the Australian driver, this pole was the first of the season and his career. Arvid Lindblad, a member of Red Bull’s youth program, will join him from the front row in Sunday’s race.

The riders took to the track as soon as the countdown to the 30-minute session began and began attacking with full force after two warm-up laps. Dino Beganovic was the first to set the fastest time: 1:29.937, but the Swede ran into traffic in the third sector, allowing fourteen riders to improve his result.

The protocol was led by Laurens van Heupen with a result of 1:29.187 s. The second and third times were shown by Leonardo Fornaroli and Christian Mansell respectively. In this order, the top three returned to the pits for new tires before the second attempt.

The drivers started returning to the track with 18 minutes remaining in qualifying. After completing two warm-up laps, they started attacking.

Luke Browning topped the time list with a time of 1:28.888. Marie Boya moved up to second, while Mansell’s improvement kept him in third. Championship leader Gabriele Mini showed the fifth result.

Van Heupen, who had the best time on the first attempt, also improved, but this result was only enough for seventh place. Nikita Bedrin was in the top ten with the ninth fastest time.

Eight minutes before the end of qualifying, the riders set off for the decisive third attempt. Luke Browning improved his lap, but Arvid Lindbland made an even faster attempt: 1:28.499. Nikola Tsolov pushed Browning into third place.

Christian Mansell was one of the last to complete his lap, and no one could beat the ART racer’s time of 1:28.463 seconds.

Luke Browning eventually qualified fourth and has a good chance of becoming championship leader at the end of the Spanish stage, as Gabriele Mini, who is four points ahead of him, only showed the sixteenth fastest time. Nikita Bedrin qualified twenty-first.

The starting grid for the sprint has been reversed: the drivers in the first twelve places will start tomorrow in reverse order. Sami Megetunif will start from pole on Saturday. Mari Boya will start the race with him from the front row.