Nikola Tsolov secured his second Feature Race pole position of the 2025 Formula 3 season with a commanding performance at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
The Red Bull junior couldn’t be matched in the qualifying session as he secured a front row start ahead of Brad Benavides in second place and Noah Stromsted completing the top three order
Tsolov topped the disrupted Friday morning Free Practice session for Campos Racing, which was marred by multiple incidents, several red flags, and limited running.
Trident’s Rafael Camara and Stromsted completed the top three.
The Bulgarian trails the championship leader Camara by 26 points after the opening five rounds.
Nikita Johnson will make his debut this race weekend, stepping in at DAMS Lucas Oil to replace the suspended Nicola Lacorte.
Meanwhile, James Hedley returns to AIX Racing after missing the previous round through injury, with Jose Garfias departing after his single outing in Barcelona.
Tsolov lays down the early benchmark in qualifying
After the initial warm-up laps, the first representative times started to arrive seven minutes into the qualifying session.
Tsolov was first up with a 1:21.598s setting a benchmark for the rest of the field, more than five tenths quicker than Mari Boya in second, who was recently signed to the Aston Martin academy.
Camara soon joined his title rival on the front row after improving on his initial effort, though he still fell a tenth and a half short of the fastest time.
Ugo Ugochukwu set a strong opening lap for Prema Racing to go third, but was later bumped down as Tim Tramnitz slotted into second, splitting Tsolov and Camara.
The field bunched up through the middle sector, with drivers jostling for track position and clean air, while several ran wide as they wrestled with the Red Bull Ring’s challenging layout.
Noel Leon joined his Prema team-mate at the front to go fourth quickest, bumping Ugochukwu down to fifth.
Alessandro Giusti slotted in behind his MP Motorsport team-mate to take third, just 0.097s off Tsolov’s lap time, which remained unbeaten halfway through the session.
Austrian fan favourite Charlie Wurz held provisional reverse-grid pole as the drivers returned to the pits for fresh tyres.
However, Benavides soon broke into the top 10, pushing ART’s James Wharton down to 12th.
The AIX Racing driver went even quicker on his next run, delivering a superb lap to jump up to fourth.
Tsolov on pole for Austrian Feature Race
With just over 10 minutes remaining, drivers returned to the track as the order continued to shift rapidly.
Wharton informed his team over the radio of a suspected loose engine cover but opted to continue despite the issue.
With under five minutes to go, Camara went quickest through the middle sector and crossed the line to go fastest with a 1:21.011s.
However, Tsolov soon displaced him at the top, but only by 0.084s to clinch provisional pole once again.
Callum Voisin surged into third before Ugochukwu also climbed up to that position.
Tsolov responded with an even faster lap, setting a 1:20.743 as the top 10 shuffled dramatically behind him.
Ugochukwu pushed hard to improve further but spun at the final corner after posting the quickest time in the middle sector.
Benavides secured a front-row spot, just 0.176s behind Tsolov’s pole time, while Stromsted climbed to third after his earlier laps hadn’t threatened the top order.
Bruno del Pino and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak also posted late improvements, moving up to fourth and fifth respectively.
But it was Tsolov who held on for pole, a significant moment for the championship as Camara found himself down the order in seventh place.
The provisional Feature Race grid stands as follows: Tsolov, Benavides, Stromsted, del Pino, Inthraphuvasak, Voisin, Camara, Ugochukwu, Brando Badoer, Wurz, Giusti, and Wharton.
As for the Sprint Race, British driver Wharton will start from pole.
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