"Really stressful until the last lap" - Théophile Naël on F3 pole at Australian Grand Prix
The French driver was out of contention until a blazing final attempt took him to the front of the grid.
Frenchman Théophile Naël claimed pole position in the first qualifying session of the FIA Formula 3 season, edging out his Campos Racing teammate Ugo Ugochukwu.
Ugochukwu was the fastest in the early laps, before the session was suspended when Matteo De Palo hit the barrier at the exit of turn 10.
The American held the top stop despite damaging his front wing on the next attempt, with Australian James Wharton igniting the hopes of the local crowd as he went up to second for PREMA Racing.
A final attempt from Naël saw him beat his teammate's time when no other driver could, putting him on pit lane pole position for Sunday's feature race.
“It has been a tough quali for me, really stressful,” said the French driver, who lost his first lap to track limits and had to wait until his final attempt to challenge the leaders.
“Didn't manage to complete the lap at the beginning of the quali, and was a bit off sequence in the second run as well. So, I had to give everything.”
“I'm really happy we are one-two for the team. Looking forward to the weekend.”
Ugochukwu was just 0.021 seconds off the pace, with rookie Freddie Slater in third, just 0.061 seconds off the pole-sitter.
“This track is amazing, it's amazing to come here for the first run, it's not a typical track and it's so far from Europe,” said Naël.
“Those F3 cars are really fun to drive as well, so I'm enjoying a lot the drive into this championship, and I'm taking some experience for the future.”
Van Amersfoort Racing teammates Enzo Deligny and Bruno del Pino were P11 and P12 respectively, giving VAR a front-row lockout for the reverse-grid sprint race at 11.15am on Saturday.
Aussie James Wharton was eighth for PREMA, giving him a good chance at home in both the feature race on Sunday and Saturday's reverse-grid sprint, while Kiwi Louis Sharp will start both races from P13.
Campos Racing super-sub, Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder, will start each race from P23 while filling-in for the injured Ernesto Rivera.
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