Benavides takes the final pole position of the 2025 Formula 3 season at Monza
- Trisha Lynnette Nathan
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
By Trisha Lynnette Nathan
The final qualifying session of the 2025 Formula 3 season took place on Friday at 15:05 local time (14:05 BST) at Monza. To reduce congestion and ensure a smoother session, the drivers were divided into Qualifying Group A and Group B. Brad Benavides of AIX Racing took pole position, followed by Ugo Ugochukwu and Noel Léon of PREMA Racing.
With ten minutes on the clock, the Group A drivers remained in the pits, preparing their three sets of soft compound tyres. Roman Bilinski of Rodin Motorsport, Nikita Johnson of Hitech TGR, Christian Ho of DAMS, and Callum Voisin of Rodin Motorsport were first out on track to warm up. Soon the rest joined them, with Johnson and Bilinski setting the first flying laps.
Slipstreaming quickly became the priority. Bilinski’s engineer advised: “We’re going to warm up the next lap, unless they’re playing games.” Bilinski led the pack, punching through the dirty air and giving those behind a tow.
With many waiting for the perfect tow rather than setting laps, time was short, leaving only one real chance with one minute and thirty-seven seconds left on the clock. Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport, Voisin and Alessandro Giusti of MP Motorsports timed their runs perfectly and managed to squeeze in a second attempt.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak of Campos Racing Inthraphuvasak took first which was short lived as Rafael Câmara of Trident and the championship winner soon took provisional pole.
Ugochukwu took P2 by 9 hundredths of a second. Tramnitz, Voisin and Giusti were able to take a second flying lap. Câmara’s lap was canceled due to exceeding track limits, as Ugochukwu took pole position followed by Inthraphuvasak.
This pushed Câmara all the way to the back of the grid, which meant a tougher battle for Trident to keep their lead and take the ultimate win in the teams championship. Inthraphuvasak took P2 in this session, playing a crucial role in furthering Campos’ grasp on the trophy.
In Group B, Gerrard Xie of Hitech TGR set the early benchmark with a 1:52.028, soon followed by his teammate Martinius Stenshorne, who posted the second flying lap.
At Trident, focus was on Charlie Wurz, with his engineer cautioning: “Be ready for anything, Charlie.” Meanwhile, Nikola Tsolov of Campos Racing found himself boxed in. “How’s it going, mate?” asked his engineer. “Well, nobody wants to pass me,” Tsolov replied, as cars stacked up behind. He briefly went purple in the first sector before Ivan Domingues of Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) bettered his time.
The order shifted again as Noah Strømsted of Trident moved to provisional pole, only to be overtaken by Mari Boya of Campos Racing. Wurz slotted in just behind when Tuukka Taponen of ART Grand Prix surged to provisional pole. Boya’s hopes ended abruptly when front-left wing damage forced him to back off.
In the closing moments, León briefly took the lead, but it was Benavides who struck late to claim the final pole position of the season. Tsolov recovered to finish third in the group, securing a favourable grid slot for the races ahead.
This resulted in the final qualifying table placing Benavides on pole position, the American’s second of the season after Spa-Francorchamps, where the race was unfortunately cancelled. Hopefully Benavides is able to convert this pole into a win on Sunday and end the season on a winning note.
With the Trident drivers starting from less than ideal positions and Campos Racing enjoying a bit of tactical advantage, the battle for the teams’ championship promises to be intense.
That brings an end to the final qualifying session of the 2025 session. We go racing on Saturday at 09:15 CEST (08:15 BST) with Van Hoepen at pole for the Sprint Race. Finally we end this weekend and season with the Feature Race at 08:15 CEST (07:15 BST) with Benavides leading the grid.
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