QUALIFYING: Fornaroli takes maiden pole in Trident 1-2 at Silverstone

Leonardo Fornaroli headed up a Trident 1-2 around Silverstone, taking his maiden Formula 3 pole position with a 1:45.520. Teammate Oliver Goethe followed in second after making a late improvement, while Josep María Martí led the Campos Racing effort in third.

The Spaniard was narrowly ahead of teammate Christian Mansell, who secured his best F3 Qualifying result in fourth. Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top five on a good day for the Trident team.

Gabriele Minì set the early pace with a 1:46.619 which was swiftly beaten by teammate Luke Browning to the tune of three-tenths. The Tridents of Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Goethe crossed the line to split the two Hitech Pulse-Eight drivers, with the top three covered by just 0.120s.

With 10 minutes gone, Paul Aron became the driver to beat, setting a 1:46.191 in the #1 PREMA Racing car. Just beyond halfway through the session, the lead changed hands once again as Leonardo Fornaroli put his Trident onto provisional pole with a 1:45.717 to head the field by over four-tenths. MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto closed the gap down to 0.375s to slot into P2.

The track filled up once more after a swap to fresh tyres with less than10 minutes remaining of Qualifying.

Minì, Browning and Aron each improved on their next efforts but only the Estonian got to within a quarter of a second of Fornaroli’s provisional pole time.

The Italian was able to find even more margin and lowered his personal best to a 1:45.520. Teammate Goethe slotted into second with his last lap, 0.126s back in P2.

Martí and Mansell popped up to third and fourth respectively for Campos Racing on their last laps, with Bortoleto ensuring all three Tridents were in the top five with fifth.

Aron ended up sixth for PREMA ahead of Minì and Browning for Hitech. Colapinto slotted into ninth ahead of British duo Taylor Barnard and Jonny Edgar in 11th.

Sebastián Montoya will line up on reverse grid pole for Hitech Pulse-Eight in the Sprint Race on Saturday, set to get underway at 09:20 local time.