Tsolov snatches pole in dying moments of F3 qualifying around Silverstone

Vyas Ponnuri
Jul 4
3 min read

Updated: Jul 7

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Nikola Tsolov ensured he continued to remain atop the standings around Silverstone. Having dominated practice, the 'Bulgarian Lion' put in two outstanding qualifying laps to claim pole position, and two valuable points to continue his rise up the order.

Tsolov stole the show in Silverstone qualifying to take pole | Credit: Formula One

No driver came close to Tsolov all session, with only a stellar lap from PREMA Racing's Ugo Ugochukwu netting him second, as the Italian team finally started to get on top of the new F3 car concept in 2025. Championship leader Câmara finished third, having led the standings for a significant chunk of the 30-minute qualifying session.

Tsolov's teammate Mari Boya qualified a lofty fourth, ahead of MP Motorsport's Tim Tramnitz. Charlie Wurz put his Trident in the top six, with Austria race winner Martinius Stenshorne in seventh for Hitech TGR.

ART Grand Prix's Laurens van Hoepen finished eighth, while Van Amersfoort Racing's Theophile Naël and PREMA Racing's Noel León rounded out the top ten on the road.

AS IT UNFOLDED

The field of 30 cars immediately took to the mighty Silverstone circuit to set the grid for the F3 weekend. It was championship leader Rafael Câmara and teammate Noah Strømsted at the head of the field, the first to set their lap times.

Setting off on their flying laps, the latter set the first representative time on the board, a strong 1:46.522, immediately beaten by teammate Câmara by two tenths of a second, as the four-time pole sitter looked set to make it five in 2025.

But the duo's times were soon eclipsed by several drivers on the grid. While PREMA Racing's Ugo Ugochukwu came within 23 milliseconds of the Brazilian, teammate Noel León looked on course to take the top time, before running wide out of the Vale chicane, losing his lap time.

The likes of second-placed Tim Tramnitz, and Campos Racing's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak then climbed ahead of the championship leader. However, none of the aforementioned drivers stood a chance to Nikola Tsolov's pace.

The Campos man, who topped free practice earlier in the day, blitzed the field, setting three purple sectors to top the session by over three tenths of a second to the rest. It was almost as though the Bulgarian eyed a statement reply, having been disqualified from the Austria feature race after excessive plank wear.

Elsewhere, the closest a driver came was Tramnitz, who ended up 0.205 seconds off Tsolov's time, that stood until the Trident drivers returned to the track for their second laps. This time, Strømsted looked on course for provisional pole, before losing time as the lap went on. Câmara then eclipsed Tsolov's time by almost half a second, as the track evolution saw the times fall.

Charlie Wurz made it three Trident cars in the top four, moving up the order, with Tsolov's Campos splitting the Italian marque's cars.

ART Grand Prix were the other team with three cars in the top ten before the final laps, as the trio of Laurens van Hoepen, Tuuka Taponen and James Wharton sat sixth, eighth and ninth respectively.

Van Amersfoort Racing then jumped up the order, with Theophile Naël and Ivan Domingues jumping up to second and tenth respectively.

While Câmara and Trident may have been sitting comfortably, as Tramnitz and Austria winner Martinius Stenshorne couldn't trouble the lead standings, Tsolov looked the closest to taking pole, having set a purple second sector.

Sure enough, the Red Bull junior aced the final sector, setting a 1:45.043, going a tenth of a second quicker than his championship rival. PREMA Racing's Ugochukwu came close to taking the team's first pole of the year, missing out by only 23 milliseconds, as he took his team's best result in qualifying.

Câmara couldn't improve on his time, which meant Tsolov took his third pole of the season, and the two points that came with it. Further behind, DAMS' Christian Ho made it into the top 12 for DAMS, while Inthraphuvasak finished 12th, meaning he will start the Saturday sprint from reverse grid pole.