QUALIFYING: Slater takes maiden F3 pole on home turf

Freddie Slater delivered when it mattered, earning his maiden Aramco Pole Position Award in the Championship and TRIDENT's first of the 2026 season.

Theophile Nael wound up P2 with a late lap under pressure having been down in P29 ahead of the final run. Louis Sharp secured third place on the grid for PREMA Racing.

Tyre prep complete and it was an early PREMA 1-2-3 headed by José Garfias, but the TRIDENTs of Slater and Matteo de Palo topped the times after several improvements from others.

The home driver lost his effort though for exceeding track limits at Copse corner to leave the Italian P1 on a 1:46.383, with Ernesto Rivera 0.096s behind in P2.

After a short stint in the pitlane, the drivers returned to the track and De Palo improved to a 1:46.334. But that was shortly beaten by Rivera, who went 0.031s clear to go to provisional pole.

The fast times were coming in thick and fast, as Maciej Gladysz took over at the top with a 1:46.293. But a few moments later Slater beat that time by just 0.061s to take P1.

In the fight for the championship, once again Ugo Ugochukwu and Nael lost their times for breaching track limits, leaving them at the back ahead of their final lap of the day.

With the pressure laps underway, Nael and Slater found time, but it was De Palo who went purple through the first sector.

Through Sector 2 and Slater delivered a session-best middle sector. Nael crossed the line first to go to provisional pole, until Slater delivered a 1:45.620 to take top spot on home soil.

Nael wound up second with Louis Sharp third for PREMA. Rivera delivered a late improvement of his own to go to P4 ahead of De Palo in fifth.

Fionn McLaughlin secured his best Qualifying result in F3 so far with P6 ahead of Noah Stromsted, Gladysz, James Wharton and Alessandro Giusti, who rounded out the top 10.

11th was Yevan David for AIX Racing, while Ugochukwu could only manage P12 on his final attempt, making it inside the reverse grid spots by just 0.066s.

Up next is the Sprint Race, set to get underway at 09:35 local time on Saturday, with the Championship leader Ugochukwu going from reverse grid pole.