Brad Benavides claimed his second career pole in Formula 3 qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix.
The AIX driver took the fastest time overall in the split qualifying sessions. Ugo Ugochukwu clocked the quickest time in the Group A session to secure his spot on the front row.
It marked the second F3 pole for the American, the first coming in Spa. However, Benavides will be looking for redemption following the cancellation of the F3 Feature that weekend.
Following an extremely high amount of traffic across the grid in F3 last year, the series opted to split qualifying into two groups, as seen in Monaco.
Drivers would be divided into two qualifying groups: Group A would feature the odd-numbered cars, while Group B would contain the even-numbered entries.
Group A would head out first, followed by Group B. The starting grid for the Feature Race would be set by merging the results of both sessions.
The overall fastest driver would claim pole position, with the quickest driver from the opposite group lining up alongside on the front row.
From there, the grid would alternate between the two groups according to lap times, continuing until all positions are filled.
For Saturday’s Sprint Race, the sixth-fastest drivers from each group would start on the front row, with the Group B representative taking reverse-grid pole.
Group A
In the first 10-minute session of F3 qualifying, James Hedley wasted no time getting out on track, one of the few drivers opting for an early exit from the pit lane.
When the session hit five minutes remaining, the field filed out of the pit lane, with just Roman Bilinski and Nikita Johnson putting times on the board at that stage.
Drivers went nose-to-tail into the final corners, all preparing for a push lap, looking for a tow from their rivals.
Tim Tramnitz and Callum Voisin crossed the line just in time to potentially put in two flying laps, while the rest of the field would only manage one.
Tramnitz crossed the line first, with a time of 1:38.911s, but the times began to fall. Rafael Camara shot to the top, 0.391 seconds faster than Tramnitz’s MP Motorsport.
Guisti, Voisin, and Tramnitz all embarked on their second and final lap as Camara had his lap time deleted, the championship winner dropping to the back of the pack.
Guisti moved up to fourth, but Ugochukwu maintained the speed seen in practice, storming to the top of the timings, with a 1:38.613s putting the PREMA driver in the fight for pole.
Group B
Gerrad Xie was the first driver to head out on track, putting in an initial time of 1:52.028s. His Hitech team-mate, Martinius Stenshorne, quickly beat the time by 0.5s.
Into the final few minutes of the session, times fell with Noah Stromsted taking the top spot with a 1:38.647s.
Mari Boya moved ahead but was pushed to third as Charlie Wurz and Tukka Tapponen crossed the line and led the field with a 1:38.502s.
As the chequered flag was waved, the final drivers took the line and shot for their last chance at pole.
Benavides was the final driver to cross the line, with a 1:38.120s. Putting the AIX racing driver on pole for the Italian GP Feature Race as he put 0.5s on the PREMA driver from Group A.
Martinius Stenshorne, who finished sixth fastest in Group B, will start on pole for the Sprint Race on Saturday.
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