QUALIFYING: Van Hoepen takes maiden F3 pole after late Red Flag

ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen earned his first Pole Position in FIA Formula 3, with a 1:33.935 coming in the nick of time. The Dutch driver finished the session on top and ahead of teammate Nikola Tsolov in P2, while title contender Leonardo Fornaroli took third for Trident.

There was a late Red Flag as another contender Luke Browning spun into the barriers on his final attempt, ending the session early.

With tyre preparation laps complete, AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek set the initial pace with a 1:34.414 ahead of teammates Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikita Bedrin in a 1-2-3 for the team.

PREMA Racing’s Dino Beganovic was best of the rest in fourth, 0.391s down on the top time ahead of Trident’s Santiago Ramos in P5 after the opening 10 minutes.

There was more vying for track position ahead of the second attempts but this time it was van Hoepen that took over at the top, setting a 1:34.316 until Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León secured P1 with a 1:34.174.

Further back and with clear track, Fornaroli was next to go quickest but it was very closely run. The Italian driver went just 0.001s quicker than León to secure provisional pole.

Drivers returned to the track on fresh tyres for one final attempt with just over five minutes left of the session with the track at its best.

Van Hoepen returned to the top as the first into the 1:33s ahead of teammate Tsolov in P2. Fornaroli put himself in third just as the Red Flags came out as title rival Browning found the barriers at Turn 11, bringing the session to a conclusion and those behind unable to improve.

A snap of oversteer for the Briton left him sideways and his Hitech Pulse-Eight sliding into the barriers. He was OK but was left in seventh.

León dropped to fourth with the improvements from the trio ahead, with Ramos fifth and Dufek in sixth.

Meguetounif followed Browning in P8 ahead of Tim Tramnitz, Christian Mansell, Callum Voisin and Inthraphuvasak, who after ending up 12th will start the Sprint Race from reverse grid pole.

The Budapest Sprint Race is set to get underway at 09:50 local time on Saturday.