Hauger beats Doohan to first F3 pole in Barcelona

Dennis Hauger continued his excellent start to life with PREMA Racing to take his first ever pole position in Formula 3, beating out Trident’s Jack Doohan by 0.006s. The Red Bull juniors traded places throughout the session, but it was the Norwegian who came out on top, with MP Motorsport’s Alpine prodigy Victor Martins nabbing third late on.

Track temperature had risen from 28 to 39 between Free Practice and Qualifying and the majority of the field opted to head out at the first opportunity. At the front of the queue were Hitech Grand Prix, with Jak Crawford the first to complete a flying lap, but it was Trident’s Doohan who set the standard, beating the fastest time from Free Practice with a run of 1:33.580.

Hauger during qualifying . (Photo by Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)

The fastest man from practice, Hauger, very briefly nabbed first with a storming final sector at the start of his second run, going round at 1:33.138, but Doohan responded by reclaiming the position at the first opportunity. Hauger had more luck on his third run, with the Red Bull junior setting a purple middle sector to snatch pole from Doohan by 0.006s.

Victor Martins of France (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

The top two were in a league of their own, but there was a flurry of late activity behind them, as Frederik Vesti and Matteo Nannini both briefly held third, before falling to fourth and fifth. The duo were dropped down the order thanks to a last gasp effort from Martins, who came within 0.055s off the front two, beating Nannini by two tenths.

Olli Caldwell and Clement Novalak beat 2020 title challenger Logan Sargeant to sixth and seventh, with the final Trident of David Schumacher settling for P9. Caio Collet completed the top 10 ahead of Alex Smolyar.

Jonny Edgar beat Juan Manuel Correa to reverse grid pole for Race 1 by less than a tenth, with the Carlin Buzz racer finishing 12th. He’ll line up in first on Saturday, when Race 1 begins at 10.35am local time.

Qualifying Results

Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time Behind Gap
1 1 Dennis Hauger Prema Powerteam 12 1’32.904 0.000s 0.000s
2 4 Jack Doohan Trident 12 1’32.910 0.006 0.006
3 17 Victor Martins MP Motorsport 12 1’32.965 0.061 0.055
4 14 Matteo Nannini HWA AG 11 1’33.113 0.209 0.148
5 7 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 12 1’33.173 0.269 0.060
6 3 Olli Caldwell Prema Powerteam 12 1’33.184 0.280 0.011
7 5 Clement Novalak Trident 11 1’33.225 0.321 0.041
8 29 Logan Sargeant Charouz Racing System 10 1’33.263 0.359 0.038
9 6 David Schumacher Trident 11 1’33.274 0.370 0.011
10 18 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 12 1’33.305 0.401 0.031
11 8 Alexander Smolyar ART Grand Prix 12 1’33.355 0.451 0.050
12 25 Jonny Edgar Carlin 12 1’33.370 0.466 0.015
13 9 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 12 1’33.459 0.555 0.089
14 12 Roman Staněk HitechGP 11 1’33.522 0.618 0.063
15 2 Arthur Leclerc Prema Powerteam 12 1’33.535 0.631 0.013
16 15 Oliver Rasmussen HWA AG 11 1’33.637 0.733 0.102
17 16 Rafael Villagómez HWA AG 11 1’33.675 0.771 0.038
18 30 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System 10 1’33.806 0.902 0.131
19 11 Ayumu Iwasa HitechGP 11 1’33.865 0.961 0.059
20 10 Jak Crawford HitechGP 11 1’33.876 0.972 0.011
21 26 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 11 1’33.881 0.977 0.005
22 19 Tijmen van MP Motorsport 11 1’33.908 1.004 0.027
23 24 Kaylen Frederick Carlin 12 1’33.961 1.057 0.053
24 21 Lorenzo Colombo Campos Racing 10 1’34.024 1.120 0.063
25 22 Amaury Cordeel Campos Racing 11 1’34.191 1.287 0.167
26 23 Ido Cohen Carlin 11 1’34.333 1.429 0.142
27 20 László Tóth Campos Racing 11 1’34.470 1.566 0.137
28 31 Reshad de Charouz Racing System 10 1’34.775 1.871 0.305
29 27 Pierre-Louis Chovet Jenzer Motorsport 11 1’34.778 1.874 0.003
30 28 Filip Ugran Jenzer Motorsport 13 1’35.132 2.228 0.354