Gabriel Bortoleto on Formula 3 Melbourne pole after high-impact qualifying
Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto made history as he took the first-ever FIA Formula 3 pole in Melbourne.
Gabriel Bortoleto celebrates his pole position in Melbourne. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
Pepe Marti was on top of the timesheets in the early stages before he crashed on the outside of turn 11, with the session brought to a halt to retrieve his stricken #23 Campos.
There was plenty of time left to be gained when qualifying resumed, with Bortoleto entering a lap of 1:34.064 as the time to beat.
Franco Colapinto went fastest in two consecutive laps, which was his saving grace when the latter was deleted for track limits violations.
It was Bortoleto versus Colapinto for the fastest lap in the final stages when Kaylen Frederick went into the wall on the final corner.
The red flag came out once again, promising a dash to the finish with just four minutes left on the clock.
Gabriel Minì entered the conversation in the final seconds, taking provisional pole but with half of the field yet to complete their lap behind him.
Grégoire Saucy went to the top seconds later before Bortoleto once again set the fastest lap with a time of 1:33.025.
Nikita Bedrin was just behind the Brazilian when he also lost corner in the final corner, hitting the wall hard and ending the session with one final red flag.
Gabriel Bortoleto on track during qualifying in Melbourne. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
Bortoleto will start Sunday's feature race on the front row ahead of Saucy and Minì, with Leonardo Fornaroli completing the second row.
Sebastian Montoya qualified twelfth, earning reverse-grid pole position for Saturday's sprint race, with Oliver Goethe to start alongside him.
Christian Mansell narrowly missed out on the sprint race pole and was the highest-placed Aussie with thirteenth on the grid, with Hugh Barter in P23 for Campos and Tommy Smith in P28 for Van Amersfoort Racing.
Campos' other driver Pepe Marti will have to seek permission from the stewards to start each race after crashing out without setting a competitive lap time.
2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship - Australia Qualifying
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Gregoire Saucy
- Gabriele Mini
- Leonardi Fornaroli
- Zak O’Sullivan
- Paul Aron
- Franco Colapinto
- Dino Beganovic
- Luke Browning
- Caio Collet
- Oliver Goethe
- Sebastian Montoya
- Christian Mansell (AUS)
- Jonny Edgar
- Nikola Tsolov
- Mari Boya
- Kaylen Frederick
- Taylor Barnard
- Rafael Villagomez
- Nikita Bedrin
- Oliver Gray
- Hunter Yeany
- Hugh Barter (AUS)
- Ido Cohen
- Sophia Floersch
- Roberto Faria
- Piotr Wisnicki
- Tommy Smith (AUS)
- Alejandro Garcia
- Josep Maria Marti - NC
