Rafael Câmara leads the pack in F3 Bahrain qualifying

SAKHIR–Brazilian Rafael Câmara set a lap more than a tenth of a second clear of his rivals to take pole position for the FIA Formula weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Brazilian held the early pace before being challenged by Callum Voisin in the first of the final flying laps, but he returned with near-perfect final attempt to take his second pole position of the season with a lap of 1:49.214.

Câmara revealed after the session his team had taken the unorthodox strategy of running on a different tyre strategy.

"I think it was good luck!" said the Trident driver.

"In the end we went for the strategy to only use two new tyres, so it was quite tricky, especially in the last lap, just need to close the lap."

It was a tight-fought battle on track for teams and drivers, who came to the race weekend well-prepared after completing in-season testing just last week at the Sakhir circuit.

"I think, it's quite happy," said Câmara. "In free practice, everything went very smoothly, so it was a good way to start the weekend, and then in qualifying, the team did an amazing job to keep it nice and clean for me on the track."

"So, it was a very positive point, and now just looking forward to the races."

For Callum Voisin, who qualified second at the head of a tight pack, it was the most he could extract from the car.

"Honestly, it was a good lap," said the Brit.

"From my side, I'm not going to sit here and say I would have been on pole, because everybody has their side to the story."

"But I'm happy with the P2, obviously a bit gutting to not be on pole after the second run, which was a little bit surprising after I struggled a little bit in free practice."

"We kept digging and it's nice to be rewarded."

Câmara's Trident teammate Charlie Wurz was just 0.4s behind, one of the larger gaps in a field separated by less than two seconds overall, marginally ahead of Christian Ho who will line up next to him in fourth.

It was Joshua Dufek who qualified twelfth and who will lead the reverse-grid sprint on Saturday, joined on the front row by Hitech TGR teammate Martinius Stenshorne.

Aussie James Wharton qualified 24th despite a strong lap in his final attempt.

Câmara is the only polesitter so far this season after two rounds, and is in the lead of the championship standings, fresh off victory in the wet and interrupted feature race at the Australian Grand Prix.

"Qualifying belongs to the blue, red, and white of Trident," said commentator Piers Prior.

"Imagine joining the championship, pole position at your first race, pole in your second race, that is a statement."

"He went out there and delivered."

The FIA Formula 3 sprint race is underway at 8.15pm AEST on Saturday, with the feature race at 7.55pm on Sunday.

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