QUALIFYING: Fornaroli outlasts Minì to take Melbourne pole position

Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli took his second Formula 3 pole position, beating rival Gabriele Minì to take the top spot in Melbourne thanks to his time of 1:33.044.

Minì had been on provisional pole until the final flying laps and wound up just 0.019s off top spot, but sealed a front row start for the Feature Race, with his PREMA Racing teammate Dino Beganovic in third.

After the first set of laps Fornaroli set the pace thanks to his time of 1:33.882, with Free Practice timesheet-topper Minì over four-tenths back of his compatriot in second.

The Trident driver could not improve on his next attempt, but the PREMA racer did and closed the gap to 0.020s. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning then went up to third, two-tenths back of Fornaroli’s time.

With five minutes left in the session, Sami Meguetounif crashed his Trident #5 car into the barrier at the exit of the final corner bringing out the Red Flags. Moments prior, Minì had gone up to P1 with a 1:33.505.

The lights went green leaving the drivers four and a half minutes to set their final laps of the session and it was Fornaroli who took pole position thanks to his time of 1:33.044.

Minì followed him across the line but could not eclipse his compatriot’s effort, with Beganovic making it two PREMA’s in the top three.

Nikita Bedrin impressed throughout Qualifying and wound up fourth for PHM AIX Racing, ahead of Browning in fifth.

ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov – who has been handed a three-place grid drop for his next race - wound up sixth just ahead Arvid Lindblad, to ensure all three PREMA cars were in the top-10.

Oliver Goethe was the lead Campos Racing driver in eighth ahead of home favourite and ART Grand Prix driver Christian Mansell, Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie Martinius Stenshorne rounded out the top-10.

Campos’ Mari Boya will start on reverse grid pole in tomorrow’s Sprint Race with ART’s rookie Laurens van Hoepen set to line up next to him on the front row.

The Melbourne Sprint Race is all set for Saturday, with lights out scheduled for 11:15 local time.