Lundgaard claims maiden pole in Budapest

Christian Lundgaard
Christian Lundgaard

Christian Lundgaard followed up his dominant Free Practice form to secure his first pole position in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, with a stomping tour of the Hungaroring circuit. The ART Grand Prix man finished ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips and teammate Max Fewtrell, as ART ruled the morning session.

Marcus Armstrong was the first out on track in dry conditions, but remained wary on his first lap of the circuit, with the tarmac still damp in spots. Once the PREMA man got going, he set the pace at just under 1m 33s, ahead of Alex Peroni.

The Kiwi was able to further secure the position with a storming sector 2 and fend off an assault from stablemate Robert Shwartzman and Championship rival Vips who missed out by a tenth. The Estonian had another shot, but wobbled slightly wide at Turn 10.

Following this, the cars ducked into the pits for a fresh set of medium compounds. Two warm-up laps followed for the majority of the field as they ensured the tires were at their maximum.

Pedro Piquet was the first to take the lead in the second half, before being quickly usurped by Vips. Out of nowhere, Lundgaard turned on the style when it mattered, and bettered the lot of them, bombing around the Hungaroring in 1:31.761.

With the times flying in, things went sharply downhill for PREMA, who appeared to be suffering a rare off-day. All three drivers were chucked down the order and only Shwartzman was able to make the top ten, netting fourth fastest. Armstrong could only achieve 13th, while Jehan Daruvala’s final lap left him in lowly 17th ahead of Race 1.

This saw Lundgaard’s searing time unbeatable at the checkered flag as he finished ahead of Vips and Fewtrell. Niko Kari managed fifth, behind Shwartzman in fourth. Pedro Piquet, Jake Hughes, David Beckmann, Yuki Tsunoda and Felipe Drugovich completed the top ten.

The cars will hit the track again this afternoon when racing gets underway at 4.45pm local time. Lundgaard will look to hold on and seal a potential first win of the season, but Vips and teammate Fewtrell will be hot on his heels around one of the shorter tracks of the F3 calendar.

FIA Formula 3 Championship – Round 5 Qualifying provisional classification

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Christian Lundgaard

ART Grand Prix

1:31.761

13

2

Jüri Vips

Hitech Grand Prix

1:31.886

13

3

Max Fewtrell

ART Grand Prix

1:31.897

13

4

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:31.903

13

5

Niko Kari

Trident

1:31.074

14

6

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:31.987

13

7

Jake Hughes

HWA RACELAB

1:32.037

12

8

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:32.077

13

9

Yuki Tsunoda

Jenzer Motorsport

1:32.197

13

10

Felipe Drugovich

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:32.356

14

11

Leonardo Pulcini

Jenzer Motorsport

1:32.375

13

12

Sebastian Fernandez

Campos Racing

1:32.376

13

13

Marcus Armstrong

PREMA Racing

1:32.385

13

14

Alex Peroni

Campos Racing

1:32.402

13

15

Raoul Hyman

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:32.486

12

16

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:32.565

14

17

Jehan Daruvala

PREMA Racing

1:32.593

13

18

Ye Yifei

Hitech Grand Prix

1:32.621

13

19

Logan Sargeant

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:32.692

13

20

Liam Lawson

MP Motorsport

1:32.695

16

21

Teppei Natori

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:32.727

13

22

Fabio Scherer

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:32.873

13

23

Simo Laaksonen

MP Motorsport

1:32.945

11

24

Lirim Zendeli

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:32.987

14

25

Devlin De Francesco

Trident

1:33.047

14

26

Bent Viscaal

HWA RACELAB

1:33.064

12

27

Keyvan Andres

HWA RACELAB

1:33.093

12

28

Giorgio Carrara

Jenzer Motorsport

1:33.372

15

29

Andreas Estner

Jenzer Motorsport

1:33.469

15

30

Alessio Deledda

Campos Racing

1:35.016

13