Théophile Naël takes third consecutive F3 pole position in Catalunya

Written by Liam Ploetner

Image Credit: Formula 3

Barcelona-Catalunya played host to the end of the first double-header of F3’s 2026 season, with Théophile Naël securing his third consecutive pole position in qualifying for Campos.

The session got underway, with the drivers taking a few laps to warm up their tyres. The first competitive laps came from AIX’s Fernando Barrichello and Yevan David, but they were quickly beaten by DAMS’ Nicola Lacorte. 

Then, the Campos drivers arrived. Campos’ Théophile Naël went top with Prema’s James Wharton second, before Trident’s Matteo de Palo moved ahead of the latter. Campos’ Ernesto Rivera then went top before his teammate Ugo Ugochukwu went half a second quicker. ART’s Taito Kato went second on a 1:29.1, some four tenths behind Ugochukwu on a 1:28.7. Maciej Gładysz went fifth for ART. 

The top ten after the first runs were Ugochukwu, Kato, Rivera, Rodin’s Brando Badoer, Naël, Gładysz, ART’s Kanato Le, Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR)’s Bruno del Pino, DAMS’ Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi and de Palo.

Already there were some incidents, with Prema’s Louis Sharp running wide at turn nine and a close call for Gładysz with a VAR at turn 12.

A few drivers lost their times, with Trident’s Noah Strømsted, MP’s Alessandro Giusti, Sharp, Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin, MP’s Tuukka Taponen, David and VAR duo Enzo Deligny and Hiya Yamakoshi losing their laps. This put them under pressure to perform during the second runs, which started with chaos. Drivers were coming out of the pitlane in droves.

The lap time improvements came for Strømsted, who went fourth, before del Pino went quickest, Barrichello went seventh, Trident’s Freddie Slater moved into third, Wharton into fourth, DAMS’ Gerrard Xie then went into fourth, MP’s Mattia Colnaghi into fifth and Sharp into seventh. Naël and Rivera both improved to first and third, being three tenths quicker. The top 12 was now Naël, del Pino, Rivera, Ugochukwu, Slater, Xie, Colnaghi, Wharton, Sharp, Kato, Strømsted and Badoer.

Gładysz went ahead of Colnaghi, Wharton and Sharp into seventh. Moments later, Taponen jumped into fifth, being quickly surpassed by Kato. Le moved into tenth ahead of Colnaghi, before Deligny got his first time on the board to go fourth. Ugochukwu went close to the top, but was marginally down on Naël’s time. Yamakoshi and Badoer both then moved up places, with Yamakoshi now in sixth and Badoer in third. 

After this flurry of runs, Naël led on a 1:28.2 ahead of Ugochukwu, Badoer, del Pino, Rivera, Yamakoshi, Deligny, Kato, Taponen, Slater, Xie and Giusti. with ten minutes to go.

Now, all cars barring McLaughlin had set a competitive time. McLaughlin had run wide at turn 13. With three minutes to go, drivers began preparation for their final run, giving them all one lap to get the perfect lap to set the grid for both races.

Gładysz once again decided to push the agenda by passing a pack of cars for his final lap, but he made a mistake and wasn’t improving. Hitech’s Michael Shin went off at the same place as Sharp, damaging his front wing. Kato improved to fourth, but was jumped by Yamakoshi who went third, Ugochukwu didn’t improve on his lap either.

Replays showed Colnaghi recovering after a massive swap of oversteer.

In fact, only four cars in the top 12 improved on their times, which was Yamakoshi in third, Kato in fifth, Slater in 10th and Wharton in 11th.

The top 12 order was Naël, Ugochukwu, Yamakoshi, Badoer, Kato, del Pino, Rivera, Deligny, Taponen, Slater, Wharton and Xie, meaning Xie would be on pole for the rSprint Race on Saturday.

Naël took his third pole position in a row for Campos at their home track, with Ugochukwu making it a 1-2 for the team. Home hero del Pino would start sixth for the Feature Race on Sunday, and seventh for the Sprint Race on Saturday.