Nael Narrowly Beats Ugochukwu by 0.039s for Barcelona Pole

Théophile Nael secured his third consecutive Aramco Pole Position in Formula 3 qualifying at the Barcelona-Catalunya weekend, stopping the clock at 1:28.263 to edge teammate Ugo Ugochukwu by 0.039 seconds. Nael's pole puts him on the front row for Sunday's 30-car Feature Race alongside Ugochukwu. Campos Racing again underscored its strength at its home circuit by placing three cars inside the top five.

Campos showed strong momentum through the weekend, sweeping the top three in the only free practice: Nael quickest on a 1:28.422 lap, Ugochukwu second and Ernesto Rivera third. The team leads the teams' standings and has a successful recent record at its home round, having collected six podiums since 2019, including three wins. Pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February left the track familiar to many teams, a factor that was expected to tighten margins in qualifying.

Qualifying produced a close order across the field: Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi was third, Brando Badoer fourth, Taito Kato fifth and Bruno Del Pino sixth; Rivera was seventh, Enzo Deligny eighth, Tuukka Taponen ninth and Freddie Slater tenth. Ugochukwu led after the first runs before Nael improved at the end of the session to take pole. Gerrard Xie qualified 12th and will start from reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s sprint race; that sprint had been scheduled for 10:05 local after qualifying was moved to 15:00 earlier in the day.