F3: Santiago Ramos Heads Trident 1-2-3 In Imola Qualifying

Santiago Ramos saved his best for last to lead teammates Leonardo Fornaroli and Sami Meguetounif in an exciting Imola Qualifying session. The Mexican’s 1:31.767 put him on pole in the final moments to top a Trident 1-2-3 result.

With tyre preparation laps completed, PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Minì led the way on a 1:32.598 ahead of compatriot Fornaroli. ART Grand Prix rookie Laurens van Hoepen filtered through in third, 0.172s down on the top effort.

There was a Red Flag with 10 minutes gone after Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin spun into the gravel at Turn 4.

The session resumed and Oliver Goethe took over at the top. The Campos Racing driver carried on his form from Practice to pip Minì and to take provisional pole by 0.081s.

Most drivers returned to the pits with just under half of the Qualifying session remaining, but Fornaroli stayed on track and put in his personal best to go 0.3s clear in P1 on a 1:32.159. MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne followed suit and moved himself up to second, 0.141s behind with 12 minutes to go.

On fresh Pirelli Mediums once more, the track filled out again for the final attempts of the session.

Dino Beganovic was the first to improve, just 0.003s quicker than Fornaroli’s earlier time. Teammate Arvid Lindblad then took over with a 1:32.109.

Into the final two minutes and there were green and purple sectors throughout the field. Fornaroli restored himself onto provisional pole to go 0.2s quicker than Lindblad.

That was beaten by teammate Santiago Ramos by just 0.053s, as the Mexican rookie secured pole position in a Trident 1-2-3, with Meguetounif moving himself up to third on his final lap.

Lindblad ended up as the highest-placed PREMA in fourth with Dunne fifth, Beganovic sixth ahead of Minì, Goethe, van Hoepen, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning, MP’s Tim Tramnitz and Noel León 12th for Van Amersfoort Racing, with the Mexican starting on reverse grid pole for the Sprint.

The Imola Sprint Race is set to get underway at 10:05 local time at Imola.