F3 Spanish GP Qualifying: Romain Stanek takes pole in last seconds
20th May 2022Trident’s Romain Stanek managed to snatch pole position from under ART’s championship leader, Victor Martins, in the dying seconds of qualifying by only 0.052 seconds.
How qualifying unfolded…
As the light went green, the majority of the F3 drivers filtered onto the pit lane in unison while a few drivers remained in the pit lane to allow themselves some free air. After the first flying laps were secured onto the timing board, around Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Hitech’s Kaylen Frederick put in the provisional pole position time with a 2:01.
However, this time was soon beaten by a number of drivers. After the first series of runs from the field, MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet placed the fastest lap on the board with a 1:34.026, 0.016 seconds faster than Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto (second) and ART’s championship leader Victor Martins (third).
With less than 20 minutes left on the board, all of the drivers had returned to the pits to make minor adjustments and the field were soon back out on track.
Bad news soon arrived for Trident’s Zane Maloney as it was announced, by race control, the Barbadian missed the weigh bridge as he returned to the pits after his first set of flying laps.
After the second round of flying laps, Martins toppled Collet from the top spot in the timing board with a 1:33.568, ahead of Alexander Smolyar and Prema’s Arthur Leclerc, in second and third respectively.
Six and a half minutes remained on the clock as the field ventured back out onto the Spanish track for their final flying laps. However, Maloney’s trouble continued as he suffered issues in the pit lane with just over four minutes to go. His Mechanics surrounded the car with fans plugged into the central roll hoop and side pods in an attempt to cool the car down.
Fortunately, Maloney was able to return to the track to complete his final qualifying runs.
As the chequered flag was waved, Trident’s Roman Stanek managed to overthrow Martins from pole position by 0.052 seconds. In usual fashion, this also meant Stanek would also start P12 in Saturday’s sprint race.
That’s it for the article: F3 Spanish GP Qualifying: Romain Stanek takes pole in last seconds! Martins and Stanek are set to start the sprint P11 and P12 respectively, who will finish higher in tomorrow’s race? Let us know in the comments!
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- F3 2022 Bahrain Sprint Race: Isack Hadjar wins after post-race penalty
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
