Nael beats Ugochukwu to pole as Campos seal Melbourne F3 1-2

Théophile Nael took the first Aramco Pole Position Award of the season, narrowly beating Campos Racing teammate Ugo Ugochukwu to take P1 in a dramatic Melbourne Qualifying. 

With his final lap of the day, the French driver completed a 1:34.187 to fight off Ugochukwu for pole by just 0.021s. This gives the Spanish team a 1-2 start for Sunday’s Feature Race, with TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater in third. 

Ugochukwu had picked up where he left off in Free Practice, going to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:34.208 which put him 0.430s clear of Noah Stromsted in P2 after the first set of laps. 

The drivers then pushed on for their second attempts, but before they could set their times the Red Flags were out with Matteo De Palo in the barrier at the exit of Turn 10. 

With the TRIDENT car cleared, the teams sent their drivers out on to the track on new sets of tyres. Having set the fastest middle sector, Ugochukwu hit a polystyrene board and sustained front wing damage. 

The Campos driver returned to the pitlane and stayed in P1, albeit with James Wharton cutting his lead to 0.413s – the Melbourne-native going up to second for PREMA Racing. 

There were nine minutes left when the majority of drivers went out on track for their final push laps, all with a new set of tyres, with Nael waiting back in the pitlane. 

Ugochukwu was back out, with his Campos fitted with a new front wing. But he did not improve, with Slater going up to second, 0.061s behind. 

Several drivers were looking to push on late on, with Maciej Gladysz going up to third for ART Grand Prix. 

He was demoted to P4 moments later as Nael, having come out of the pitlane later than the rest of the field, went to pole, beating his teammate, Ugochukwu by just 0.021s. 

Nicola Lacorte then climbed up to fifth for DAMS Lucas Oil, ahead of Mattia Colnaghi, Taito Kato and home favourite Wharton. Brando Badoer was ninth for Rodin Motorsport ahead of Stromsted in P10. 

Van Amersfoort Racing pairing Enzo Deligny and Bruno del Pino were in P11 and P12 respectively, giving the Dutch outfit a front row start for Saturday’s Sprint Race, which is set to start 11:15 local time tomorrow morning.