F3: Browning takes second ever F3 pole

Written by Sean McKean

Credit - FIA Formula 3

For Friday qualifying in the hills of Styria, it was Hitech’s Luke Browning who took pole position. It is the British driver’s second pole position of his FIA F3 career.

As it unfolded

The first six minutes of qualifying were spent warming up the tyres. Since the distance of this lap is shorter than most tracks of the calendar, it would prove important to keep them up to temperature.

This was shown right at the beginning. Luke Browning, right after setting a purple first sector, went deep in Turn 3, and Piotr Wiśnicki had two lock-ups in Turns 1 and 3. 

With the leaderboard constantly changing, it was Gabriele Minì that set the pace early. However, Noel León was only five-thousandths behind the Alpine junior. Sami Meguetounif slotted into third.

After another wait in the pits, the second run began. Luke Browning initially went ahead by five-tenths and never looked back, as he took his second FIA Formula 3 pole position. He was followed by Arvid Lindblad – tying his best starting spot – and Tim Tramnitz.

Top 12 Classification:

1. Luke Browning (Hitech GP)

2. Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing)

3. Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport)

4. Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing)

5. Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing)

6. Oliver Goethe (Campos Racing)

7. Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix)

8. Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing)

9. Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport)

10. Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix)

11. Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix)

12. Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech GP)