QUALIFYING: Tsolov dominates to take pole in Spielberg

Nikola Tsolov was in supreme form on Friday afternoon in Spielberg as the Campos Racingdriver took the Aramco Pole Position Award with a dominant Qualifying effort.

The Bulgarian led after each lap and took P1 with a 1:20.743 ahead of AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides and TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted, as Championship leader Rafael Câmara finished seventh.

Tsolov got off to a fine start by putting in a 1:21.598 on his first flying lap, with his Campos teammate Mari Boya in second, but over half a second behind after the first set of times.

The Bulgarian improved on his next attempt to a 1:21.282, as MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz went up to second, 0.064s behind, while Câmara rounded out the top three.

Several drivers chose to push on for a third flying lap, and Alessandro Giusti was one of a few able to eke out more performance. The MP driver went up to third, just behind teammate Tramnitz, and 0.097s off top spot.

After returning to the pit lane for a second set of Soft tyres, the drivers were back out on track with just over 10 minutes to go.

Câmara led the pack and went fastest on a 1:21.011, but the Brazilian was quickly beaten by Tsolov, who went top by 0.084s with a 1:20.927.

The Red Bull Junior driver continued to improve and on his next attempt, completed a 1:20.743 to seal his second Pole Position of the season.

Benavides then went to second place on his final lap for AIX, finishing 0.176s off Tsolov’s time, with Noah Stromsted going to third for TRIDENT.

Bruno del Pino was the lead MP driver in fourth, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in fifth for Campos, and Callum Voisin sixth for Rodin Motorsport.

Câmara could not improve on his final attempts and wound up in P7, while Ugo Ugochukwu, who spun on his final attempt having set the fastest middle sector, settled for P8 with PREMA Racing.

Home favourite Charlie Wurz made it three TRIDENT drivers in the top 12, by qualifying 10th, with Giusti in 11th and James Wharton in 12th for ART Grand Prix.

That means Wharton is set to start from reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint Race, with the Spielberg action starting at 10:05 local time.