It was a Prema 1-2-3 with Robert Shwartzman securing FIA Formula 3 (F3) Championship feature race pole from Jehan Daruvala.
The final F3 qualifying session at Sochi Autodrom had Prema’s Robert Shwartzman on provisional pole from teammate Marcus Armstrong with title rival Jehan Daruvala in fourth behind Trident’s Niko Kari.
The leaders changed hands multiple times but it was points leader Shwartzman, who had the last laugh to increase his gap and chances to secure the championship in feature race itself.
The Russian set a 1m52.583s as he edged out rival Daruvala (1m52.775s) with Armstrong (1m52.853s) completing a Prema 1-2-3. Trident’s Kari (1m53.191s) was fourth with ART’s Christian Lundgaard (1m53.274s) fifth.
HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes (1m53.340s) was sixth with Trident’s Pedro Piquet (1m53.349s) only 0.009s apart as Hitech GP’s Leonardo Pulcini (1m53.451s) was eighth from teammate Juri Vips (1m53.530s).
The Top 10 then had ART’s Max Fewtrell with Carlin’s Felipe Drugovich just outside in 11th as he led teammate Logan Sargeant, MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor, HWA’s Bent Viscaal and Sauber’s Raoul Hyman.
Position 16-30: Devlin Defrancesco, Yuki Tsunoda, Ye Yifei, Teppei Natori, Sebastien Fernandez, Lirim Zendeli, Fabio Scherer, Liam Lawson, Simo Laaksonen, David Schumacher, Andreas Estner, Keyvan Andres, Alessio Deledda and Charles Leong.