Trident’s Roman Stanek impressively secured his first-ever F3 pole position in the final seconds of the frantic qualifying session in Barcelona, beating the championship leader Victor Martins to second with a 1:33.516.
The first day of the weekend in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya seemed to be a perfect start for the Czech driver. He showed good pace in both sessions, finishing the free practice in the third-fastest and earning a pole position just a few hours later.
Despite feeling confident about taking the pole for Sunday’s Feature Race, Martins had to settle for second unexpectedly when Stanek stormed into the top spot with an even quicker lap time, despite having an error earlier in the session.
Alexander Smolyar completed the top three from the session for ART Grand Prix ahead of the Hitech’s rookie Isack Hadjar in fourth, as PREMA Racing’s Arthur Leclerc rounded out the top five.
Leclerc’s teammate Oliver Bearman made it to sixth ahead of the pacesetter Caio Collet in seventh for the second MP Motorsport car after Smolyar set the 1m33s benchmark halfway through Qualifying.
Further down, Kaylen Frederick ended up in eighth fastest as the last PREMA Racing driver Jak Crawford placed the red car in ninth, ahead of Juan Manuel Correa, who entered the top 10 after returning to the series.
The Sprint Race will start at 11.00 local times in Barcelona, with Trident’s Zane Maloney starting from the reversed pole alongside Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto on the front row.
Qualifying session results:
| 1 | Roman Stanek | 1:33.516 | Trident |
| 2 | Victor Martins | 1:33.568 | ART Grand Prix |
| 3 | Alexander Smolyar | 1:33.613 | MP Motorsport |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | 1:33.726 | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 5 | Arthur Leclerc | 1:33.731 | PREMA Racing |
| 6 | Oliver Bearman | 1:33.747 | PREMA Racing |
| 7 | Caio Collet | 1:33.750 | MP Motorsport |
| 8 | Kaylen Frederick | 1:33.805 | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 9 | Jak Crawford | 1:33.825 | PREMA Racing |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | 1:33.857 | ART Grand Prix |
| 11 | David Vidales | 1:33.873 | Campos Racing |
| 12 | Zane Maloney | 1:33.926 | Trident |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | 1:33.963 | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 14 | Gregoire Saucy | 1:34.040 | ART Grand Prix |
| 15 | Oliver Rasmussen | 1:34.041 | Trident |
| 16 | Josep Maria Marti | 1:34.117 | Campos Racing |
| 17 | Reece Ushijima | 1:34.180 | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | 1:34.317 | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 19 | Zak O’Sullivan | 1:34.320 | Carlin |
| 20 | Hunter Yeany | 1:34.342 | Campos Racing |
| 21 | William Alatalo | 1:34.568 | Jenzer Motorsport |
| 22 | Lirim Zendeli | 1:34.686 | Charouz Racing System |
| 23 | Kush Maini | 1:34.753 | MP Motorsport |
| 24 | Nazim Azman | 1:34.795 | Hitech Grand Prix |
| 25 | Ido Cohen | 1:34.866 | Jenzer Motorsport |
| 26 | Enzo Trulli | 1:34.973 | Carlin |
| 27 | Frederico Malvestiti | 1:35.096 | Jenzer Motorsport |
| 28 | Brad Benavides | 1:35.337 | Carlin |
| 29 | Francesco Pizzi | 1:35.549 | Charouz Racing System |
| 30 | Laszlo Toth | 1:35.575 | Charouz Racing System |
