Arvid Lindblad took feature race pole in Barcelona to become the sixth different in F2 2025, as Rafael Camara took his fourth F3 pole.
F2:
Arvid Lindblad was at his brilliant best in Barcelona as the Campos Racing driver took the Aramco Pole Position Award in Friday’s dramatic Qualifying session. The Red Bull Junior’s final lap of 1:25.180 to beat Sebastián Montoya by 0.245s to take the top spot, with DAMS Lucas Oil driver Kush Maini rounding out the top three.
There was a split strategy to start the session, with half the grid choosing to stay in the pit lane, while the other 11 cars went out on track. Leonardo Fornaroli set the early benchmark of a 1:25.755, putting him 0.150s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne after their first set of laps.
With 10 minutes gone, the other half of the grid left the pit lane to get their opening times on the board. Lindblad then picked up from where he left off in Free Practice – where he set the fastest time – to go quickest with a 1:25.493, over two and a half tenths quicker than Fornaroli.
Ritomo Miyata was third for ART Grand Prix ahead of DAMS’ Jak Crawford, with Dunne rounding out the top five. All 22 drivers then returned to the track for the final runs, and there were several improvements across the leaderboard.
Montoya then rocketed to the top of the timesheets with a 1:25.425, but Lindblad restored his advantage with a 1:25.180 to give Campos their first pole in Barcelona. The PREMA driver ended up second ahead of Maini, with Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek’s late improvement enough to put him up to fourth.
Dunne wound up fifth for Rodin, ahead of MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor in sixth and Crawford in seventh. Luke Browning ended up eighth for Hitech TGR, with AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen in ninth, leaving Fornaroli to round out the top 10. That means Fornaroli is set to line up on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Barcelona Sprint Race.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1928457747122606166
F3:
Rafael Câmara was in formidable form in Barcelona Qualifying, taking his fourth pole position in the opening five rounds of the 2025 season. The TRIDENT driver set a 1:28.761 for the top spot, 0.2s clear of Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov and ART Grand Prix driver Laurens van Hoepen in third.
The battle for track position started immediately as drivers sought the ideal place to gain a tow but avoid traffic ahead of them. Eventually Noah Stromsted won a place at the front of the queue with TRIDENT teammate Rafael Câmara right behind him. The TRIDENT pair completed their laps, but they were instantly beaten by Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak on a 1:29.433, who set the early benchmark.
Tuukka Taponen beat that on his first flying lap as ART Grand Prix opted to run their trio off sequence and later than the rest. The Finn pipped Inthraphuvasak by 0.042s, as teammate James Wharton slotted into third place. Track limits became a big factor as drivers returned to the pitlane, with several drivers losing their original times for exceeding track limits.
Tim Tramnitz was one of those along with Tsolov, leaving both without a lap going into the second runs. Tsolov delivered a time good enough for P4 to kick off the second round of laptimes, but Câmara behind was flying. A 1:28.761 put him on provisional pole ahead of the ART’s van Hoepen, while Alessandro Giusti and Tramnitz followed in third and fourth.
Into the final runs, Câmara told his team he’d wait to head back out in order to get a clean track, while his rivals rejoined the circuit to try and dislodge him from P1. But nobody could prevent Câmara from sealing his fourth pole of the season and the Aramco Pole Position Award. Tsolov and van Hoepen were his closest challengers in second and third after the Campos driver improved on his last attempt.
Théophile Nael moved himself up to P4 at the chequered flag, one place ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Santiago Ramos in P5. Giusti wound up sixth in the end ahead of the third VAR car of Ivan Domingues in seventh.
Stromsted, Taponen and Tramnitz rounded out the top 10. Martinius Stenshorne finished 11th in front of Wharton in12th, with the ART driver set to start from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1928444416525529594
Lap re-instated: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_barcelona_event_-_infringement_-_qualifying_-_lap_time_cancellations.pdf
Grid drop for impeding: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_barcelona_event_-_infringement_-_car_11_-_impeding_of_car_19.pdf
Grid drop for collision: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_barcelona_event_-_infringement_-_car_29_-_causing_a_collision.pdf
[The story is as per press release]
