F3: Doohan claims pole from Novalak

Jack Doohan kept his title hopes alive by taking pole, and the four points that come with it, in Qualifying to set up a thrilling finale in Sochi, with Championship leader Dennis Hauger struggling down in ninth.

Doohan took his second pole of the season ahead of Trident teammate, Clément Novalak. The Frenchman settled for a place on the front row ahead of Johnathan Hoggard, both of them claiming their best Qualifying results to date.

Jack Doohan

Meanwhile, news broke during the session that Race 1 had been brought forward to Friday, with the opener set to begin at 5.25pm (local time), instead of on Saturday morning.

The field fed out onto a much-evolved Sochi tarmac for Qualifying, with Formula 1 and Formula 2 both using the circuit for practice sessions in the hours before, while track temperature had also more than doubled to 33 degrees.

Jonathan Hoggard – Formula 3 Championship at Sochi Autodrom on September 24, 2021 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Lars Baron – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)

Trailing Hauger in the Drivers’ standings by 43 points with three races to go, Doohan was desperate for pole and ensured he had the optimum track position by shooting out of the traps first.

However, his efforts were in vain as Jonny Edgar lost control of his Carlin Buzz Racing machine at Turn 14 and got it stuck in the wall, resulting in a Red Flag.

There was a rare wide moment from Hauger when action resumed, with the PREMA Racing driver struggling to warm up his rubber. That was good news for Doohan, who had leapt to provisional pole with a lap of 1:54.927.

After a quick pitstop for fresh Pirellis, Doohan returned to strengthen his position at the top of the timesheet, beating Novalak and Frederik Vesti with an improved tour of 1:54.514.

Hoggard then slid ahead of Vesti and into third for what would be his highest ever starting position, as everyone set off for one final tour of the Sochi Autodrom.

There were very few improvements in the dying stages, but the pecking order was updated after the checkered flag. That put Doohan back at the top, with the Australian confirmed on pole after the session. Novalak was second, ahead of Hoggard and Vesti. Juan Manuel Correa notched his best Qualifying result to date, with P5, ahead of Lorenzo Colombo and home hero Alex Smolyar.

Free Practice pacesetter Caio Collet was eighth, ahead of Hauger, who managed to claw his way into the top 10 in the latter stages. Jak Crawford was 10th, ahead of Logan Sargeant and Victor Martins.

Martins will start from reverse grid pole in Race 1 later today at 5.25pm (local time).

Qualifying Results

POS No. Driver and Team LAPS TIME GAP INT.
1 4 J. Doohan Trident 12 1:54.514 0.000s 0.000s
2 5 C. Novalak Trident 12 1:54.648 0.134 0.134
3 27 J. Hoggard Jenzer Motorsport 11 1:54.687 0.173 0.039
4 7 F. Vesti ART Grand Prix 12 1:54.712 0.198 0.025
5 9 J. Correa ART Grand Prix 12 1:54.755 0.241 0.043
6 21 L. Colombo Campos Racing 12 1:54.759 0.245 0.004
7 8 A. Smolyar ART Grand Prix 12 1:54.765 0.251 0.006
8 18 C. Collet MP Motorsport 12 1:54.772 0.258 0.007
9 1 D. Hauger PREMA Racing 12 1:54.826 0.312 0.054
10 10 J. Crawford Hitech Grand Prix 12 1:54.853 0.339 0.027
11 29 L. Sargeant Charouz Racing System 12 1:54.859 0.345 0.006
12 17 V. Martins MP Motorsport 11 1:54.959 0.445 0.100
13 12 R. Stanek Hitech Grand Prix 13 1:54.977 0.463 0.018
14 2 A. Leclerc PREMA Racing 12 1:55.089 0.575 0.112
15 3 O. Caldwell PREMA Racing 12 1:55.151 0.637 0.062
16 15 O. Rasmussen HWA RACELAB 11 1:55.166 0.652 0.015
17 6 D. Schumacher Trident 13 1:55.228 0.714 0.062
18 11 A. Iwasa Hitech Grand Prix 11 1:55.302 0.788 0.074
19 14 M. Nannini HWA RACELAB 12 1:55.419 0.905 0.117
20 22 A. Cordeel Campos Racing 12 1:55.466 0.952 0.047
21 26 C. Williams Jenzer Motorsport 12 1:55.503 0.989 0.037
22 24 K. Frederick Carlin Buzz 12 1:55.680 1.166 0.177
23 16 R. Villagómez HWA RACELAB 11 1:56.007 1.493 0.327
24 28 F. Ugran Jenzer Motorsport 12 1:56.263 1.749 0.256
25 19 T. van der Helm MP Motorsport 11 1:56.525 2.011 0.262
26 30 A. Simmons Charouz Racing System 11 1:56.527 2.013 0.002
27 20 L. Tóth Campos Racing 12 1:56.600 2.086 0.073
28 23 I. Cohen Carlin Buzz 11 1:57.029 2.515 0.429
29 31 Z. Chovanec Charouz Racing System 12 1:57.164 2.650 0.135

 

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