Zak O’Sullivan pushed it to the limit in a thrilling last-minute battle to secure his and Carlin’s first-ever pole position in the FIA Formula 3 championship on their home soil, beating the title contender Arthur Leclerc second.
Leclerc was running on the top sport for a while to take the pole home for PREMA Racing until O’Sullivan proved that he could set a slightly quicker time than the Monegasque driver with a 1:44.597 in the remaining three and half minutes from the session, which allowed him to seal pole position on his home turf.
However, Leclerc had to settle for second ahead of Trident’s rookie Zane Maloney in third, who showed a promising performance from Qualifying, as Caio Collet was forced to place his MP Motorsport in fourth, as the rest of the PREMA Racing drivers Jak Crawford and Oliver Bearman completed the second run of the weekend in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Kaylen Frederick made it to seventh fastest for Hitech, as he showed some good pace in finishing third for the first time in Free Practice. Trident’s Roman Stanek ended up in eighth, ahead of Frederick’s teammate Isack Hadjar in eighth, as the pacesetter from the session opener Kush Maini rounded out the top 10 for MP Motorsport.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima will eye for a maiden rostrum finish in the weekend’s opening race from the reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race, as the 30-strong grid will be back on track at 9:55 local times in the UK.
Qualifying session results:
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | Carlin | 1:44.597 |
| 2 | Arthur Leclerc | PREMA Racing | 1:44.624 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Trident | 1:44.638 |
| 4 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | 1:44.783 |
| 5 | Jak Crawford | PREMA Racing | 1:44.805 |
| 6 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA Racing | 1:44.863 |
| 7 | Kaylen Frederick | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:44.876 |
| 8 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 1:44.920 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:44.922 |
| 10 | Kush Maini | MP Motorsport | 1:44.930 |
| 11 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1:44.958 |
| 12 | Reece Ushijima | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:45.012 |
| 13 | David Vidales | Campos Racing | 1:45.028 |
| 14 | Jonny Edgar | Trident | 1:45.048 |
| 15 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1:45.203 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART Grand Prix | 1:45.240 |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:45.300 |
| 18 | Hunter Yeany | Campos Racing | 1:45.568 |
| 19 | Francesco Pizzi | Charouz Racing System | 1:45.576 |
| 20 | Ido Cohen | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:45.718 |
| 21 | William Alatalo | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:45.810 |
| 22 | Nazim Azman | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:45.815 |
| 23 | Brad Benavides | Carlin | 1:45.855 |
| 24 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:45.919 |
| 25 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:45.934 |
| 26 | Enzo Trulli | Carlin | 1:45.988 |
| 27 | Filip Ugran | MP Motorsport | 1:46.051 |
| 28 | Zdenek Chovanec | Charouz Racing System | 1:47.713 |
| 29 | Laszlo Toth | Charouz Racing System | 1:48.038 |
