Hungaroring F3: Leclerc leads Prema 1-2 in qualifying

The Monegasque rookie set a 1m33.164s to take his first feature pole of the series, less than one-tenth ahead of championship leader Hauger.

He has previously started on the front row in a reverse-grid sprint race at Paul Ricard, which he went on to win, but never for the feature race.

Jack Doohan and his teammates David Schumacher and Clement Novalak completed a Trident 3-4-5.

ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Smolyar, who took pole here last year, finished in sixth, with his teammate Frederik Vesti in seventh.

The three Tridents led by Doohan were first out on track for the 30-minute session, as track temperatures soared at the Hungaroring, hitting 64C by the start of qualifying.

Doohan set an early fast lap of 1m33.830, the first driver to break into the 1m33s after just five minutes of qualifying, quickly followed by Hauger with a 1m33.995s.

As the times tumbled, Lorenzo Colombo briefly went fastest for Campos Racing, with a 1m33.805s, continuing the quick pace he showed in this morning’s practice session despite having never finished in the top 10.

Leclerc took pole on his second run before decreasing track temperatures made it impossible for anyone to beat his time, despite a last-dash effort from Hauger which he started seconds before the chequered flag.

Doohan had also looked in contention to take pole, but was thwarted on his last attempt by heavy traffic in the middle sector.

The top 12 is reversed for tomorrow’s sprint race, with Jonny Edgar (Carlin) on pole, Colombo in second and Ayuma Iwasa of Hitech Grand Prix in third.

Olli Caldwell of Prema will start in fourth, with Logan Sargeant behind him in fifth for Charouz Racing System.

Leclerc will serve a three-place grid drop after he was involved in a collision with Novalak at the Red Bull Ring, meaning he will line up in P15.

Update 

Officials have handed Vesti a three-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly between Turns 12 and 14. 

As a result, the Dane will now start Saturday's first reverse grid race from ninth instead of sixth.    

Hungaroring F3 - Qualifying results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	2	Arthur Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	1'33.164
2	1	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	1'33.253	0.089
3	4	Jack Doohan	Trident	1'33.260	0.096
4	6	David Schumacher	Trident	1'33.284	0.120
5	5	Clement Novalak	Trident	1'33.331	0.167
6	8	Alexander Smolyar	ART Grand Prix	1'33.429	0.265
7	7	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	1'33.449	0.285
8	29	Logan Sargeant	Charouz Racing System	1'33.632	0.468
9	3	Olli Caldwell	Prema Powerteam	1'33.704	0.540
10	11	Ayumu Iwasa	HitechGP	1'33.777	0.613
11	21	Lorenzo Colombo	Campos Racing	1'33.805	0.641
12	25	Jonny Edgar	Carlin	1'33.878	0.714
13	14	Matteo Nannini	HWA AG	1'34.004	0.840
14	9	Juan Manuel Correa	ART Grand Prix	1'34.022	0.858
15	12	Roman Staněk	HitechGP	1'34.025	0.861
16	26	Calan Williams	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.037	0.873
17	30	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	1'34.071	0.907
18	24	Jake Hughes	Carlin	1'34.113	0.949
19	22	Amaury Cordeel	Campos Racing	1'34.124	0.960
20	19	Tijmen van	MP Motorsport	1'34.242	1.078
21	15	Oliver Rasmussen	HWA AG	1'34.250	1.086
22	10	Jak Crawford	HitechGP	1'34.256	1.092
23	27	Johnathan Hoggard	Jenzer Motorsport	1'34.385	1.221
24	17	Victor Martins	MP Motorsport	1'34.518	1.354
25	18	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	1'34.585	1.421
26	23	Ido Cohen	Carlin	1'34.614	1.450
27	31	Reshad de	Charouz Racing System	1'34.787	1.623
28	16	Rafael Villagómez	HWA AG	1'34.887	1.723
29	20	László Tóth	Campos Racing	1'34.916	1.752
30	28	Filip Ugran	Jenzer Motorsport	1'35.068	1.904
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