NAEL TAKES THIRD STRAIGHT POLE IN TIGHT BARCELONA QUALIFYING
Théophile Nael secured his third consecutive Aramco Pole Position of the season in Barcelona, continuing a strong start to the year for Campos Racing. He set a fastest lap of 1:28.263, which was enough to beat his teammate Ugo Ugochukwu by just 0.039 seconds in a very close qualifying session.
At the start of qualifying, Ugochukwu set the early benchmark with a 1:28.707. Taito Kato initially moved into second place, 0.491 seconds behind the American driver. Campos Racing showed strong pace early on, placing three cars inside the top five with Ernesto Rivera and Nael also running near the front, while Brando Badoer was close behind in fourth position.
After the first runs, drivers returned to the pits before heading out again on a fresh set of hard tyres for their final attempts. With less than 18 minutes remaining, Bruno del Pino briefly moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:28.621, showing how quickly track conditions were improving.
As the final runs developed, several drivers improved their lap times. Nael delivered the strongest performance of the session, setting the fastest sectors in all three parts of the track to move into first place with his 1:28.263. This put him just ahead of Ugochukwu, while Badoer improved enough to secure third place at that stage.
In the final minutes, the field returned to the track for one last push. Nael did not improve on his final lap, but his earlier time remained strong enough to keep him in first position. Despite pressure from behind, no driver managed to beat his lap, confirming him as the fastest driver once again.
Ugochukwu finished second after losing time in the middle sector on his final attempt. Hiyu Yamakoshi secured third place for Van Amersfoort Racing, ahead of Badoer in fourth and Kato in fifth. Bruno del Pino completed the top six, followed by Ernesto Rivera and Alessandro Deligny.
Tuukka Taponen finished ninth for MP Motorsport, with Freddie Slater in tenth and James Wharton in eleventh. Gerrard Xie rounded out the top twelve.
Xie will therefore start from reverse grid pole position for Saturday’s Sprint Race in Barcelona.
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