Taito Kato takes pole after intense, fast-paced Madring F3 qualifying
ART's Taito Kato took pole position for the first of two Formula 3 Feature Races in Madrid's season finale, edging out Rodin Motorsport's Pedro Clerot by a margin of 12 milliseconds in a crucial race for pole.
MP Motorsport's Tuukka Taponen would round out the top three, ahead of championship contender Ugo Ugochukwu and VAR's Enzo Deligny who made the top five in an intense session.
Qualifying for the F3's season finale in Madrid was split into two smaller sessions comprising 20 minutes each, as compared to the standard 30-minute session commonplace for the championship. As such, drivers had to be more on their feet to set lap times and set the grid for the first Feature Race on Saturday.
It saw Jin Nakamura finish sixth in the order, ahead of Campos' Ernesto Rivera and MP Motorsport's Alessandro Giusti in seventh and eighth respectively. Bruno del Pino and PREMA Racing's Alex Powell rounding out the top 10 for Saturday evening's Feature Race at the Madring.
AS IT UNFOLDED - F3 Qualifying at the Madring
With 10 fewer minutes in the session, drivers were all set to embrace the challenge of setting laps and getting up to speed around the tricky Madring circuit. The grid of 29 drivers took to the Madring in order to set their fast laps.
Two drivers withdrew from the final F3 event of the year. AIX Racing's Ricardo Escotto was ruled out of the event following a traffic collision in the lead up to the event. DAMS' Gerrard Xie was also withdrawn from the event.
Rodin Motorsport's Christian Ho departed the championship in order to pursue his mandatory military service in Singapore. He was replaced by 16-year old Niccolò Maccagnani, who currently races in the Italian F4 season as a Ferrari junior.
It was no surprise to see the full grid of 28 drivers out on track right as the green light went off at the pit lane. The tight confines of the Madring circuit tested the drivers to the limit, rewarding those who went the extra mile and went all-in.
ART's Taito Kato reaped the benefits early in the session, with his 1:51.127 being the quickest time among drivers to have set their fast laps. He would initially hold an advantage of almost a second, before VAR's Bruno Del Pino and Enzo Deligny got themselves up into the top four.
The closest to the Japanese driver, though, was PREMA's Alex Powell, setting a lap time only a tenth of a second away from the provisional session topper.
However, the big hitters were still yet to dial in to their fast laps. Championship contenders Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu looked to go quicker than the Japanese driver, but only ended up in the top five.
But the biggest time came from Rodin Motorsport's Pedro Clerot, who eclipsed Kato's top time by 92 milliseconds, holding the quickest time after half the session had elapsed.
Several figures climbed up into the top half of the leaderboard, with Ernesto Rivera up into fourth, behind Hitech's Jin Nakamura.
Slater called to get into the pits, seeking a replacement of his rear right tyre after reporting an inherent difficulty with his car. He later reported the car to be crabbing, a damning blow to his championship aspirations as he dropped out of the top 12.
Several drivers improved their laps, including Ugochukwu and Rivera, with both still in contention for the championship. Kato delivered a stronger lap to get back to the top of the leaderboard, 12 milliseconds clear of Clerot's Rodin.
Clerot's teammate Brando Badoer brushed the wall at Turn 19, his car once again crabbing down the straight, and the Italian forced to retreat to the pits and a race to fix the damage before the second qualifying session.
With the session counting down, Slater was informed that he would be given one fast lap to go for the best possible position. Yet, his chances of a rescue effort ended in vain, as he went deep into Turns 1 and 2, limiting him to a disastrous 17th on the grid. Ugochukwu, meanwhile, put himself up in fourth on the grid, crucially in a strong position for Saturday's pair of races.
Despite several drivers improving on their times, none were able to displace Kato atop the standings, as he took pole for Feature Race 1 on Saturday from Clerot by a slender margin. Here is how qualifying unfolded after 20 minutes at the Madring:
Classification - F3 Qualifying 1 (Madrid)
Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix)
Pedro Clerot (Rodin Motorsport)
Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport)
Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos Racing)
Enzo Deligny (VAR)
Jin Nakamura (Hitech)
Ernesto Rivera (Campos Racing)
Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport)
Bruno del Pino (VAR)
Alex Powell (PREMA Racing)
Théophile Naël (Campos Racing)
James Wharton (PREMA Racing)
Matteo De Palo (Trident)
Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech)
Yevan David (AIX Racing)
Mattia Colnaghi (MP Motorsport)
Freddie Slater (Trident)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (VAR)
Maciej Gładysz (ART Grand Prix)
Kanato Le (ART Grand Prix)
Nicola Lacorte (DAMS)
Brando Badoer (Rodin Motorsport)
José Garfias (PREMA Racing)
Michael Shin (Hitech)
Fernando Barrichello (AIX Racing)
Noah Strømsted (Trident)
Niccolò Maccagnani (Rodin Motorsport)
Nandhavud Bhirombakdi (DAMS)
Comments