QUALIFYING: Tsolov dominates in Monte Carlo to take maiden F3 Pole Position

Nikola Tsolov was in supreme form in Monte Carlo as he took a maiden Pole Position in FIA Formula 3, the Campos Racing driver taking the top spot in Friday’s Qualifying session.

The Bulgarian driver’s 1:24.882 was the leading time in Group A, 0.127s faster than his teammate Mari Boya in P2, and could not be beaten in Group B, giving Tsolov the Aramco Pole Position Award.

Roman Bilinski led a Rodin Motorsport one-two in Group B, as the rookie’s 1:25.332 was good enough to seal top spot, and a front row start for Sunday, by 0.027s ahead of his teammate Callum Voisin.

GROUP A

The first 15 drivers headed out for Qualifying and after a few preparation laps, Tsolov went fastest on a 1:26.072, with PREMA Racing’s Noel León in P2, 0.261s behind.

Tsolov retained his place at the top with a 1:26.647 on his next push lap, but his gap to León on this occasion was 0.102s, as Brad Benavides went into the top three for AIX Racing.

The drivers had time for a couple more laps and the timesheets were being set alight as there were several personal best times being set.

León went quickest on a 1:25.502, but he was soon beaten by the other Campos of Mari Boya by 0.022s, with Charlie Wurz in P3 for TRIDENT, just 0.034s off provisional pole.

Tsolov was flying though, and he completed a 1:24.882 to take provisional pole. Wurz followed him across the line to go second, over half a second behind the Bulgarian.

But Boya was improving once again and set the fastest first sector of the session. However, the Spaniard just did not have enough to beat Tsolov, crossing the line to go to P2, 0.127s off his teammate.

León’s late lap took him to P3 ahead of Wurz, with Tuukka Taponen in fifth for ART Grand Prix, as Martinius Stenshorne rounded out the top six for Hitech TGR.

GROUP B

With another 16 minutes on the clock, the second set of drivers went out on to the track with a 1:24.882 the time to beat.

TRIDENT’s Rafael Câmara set the early pace with a 1:25.635, 0.123s quicker than Voisin in second.

On the next set of laps, Voisin’s 1:25.359 was now the benchmark for the rest of the field to beat, and Bilinski made it a Rodin one-two by going to within 0.104s off his teammate’s time.

However, as the drivers set off on their next laps, PREMA’s Brando Badoer hit the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the Red Flags.

Green flags waved and the drivers had just three minutes and 21 seconds to try and get their best times of the day in.

Bilinski was one of the few that could improve though. His 1:25.332 put him in P1, but it was not enough to beat Tsolov’s pole-sealing time, giving Campos their first FIA F3 pole since Spa-Francorchamps in 2023.

Voisin could not better his time and wound up 0.027s off his teammate, as Tim Tramnitz rounded out the group top three with a late lap that put him to 0.093s behind Bilinski.

Câmara wound up fourth for TRIDENT, with Laurens van Hoepen in P5, as Alessandro Giusti rounded out the top six, the MP Motorsport driver putting himself on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

The FIA Formula 3 Monte Carlo Sprint Race is set to get underway at 10:45 local time on Saturday.