Doohan claims pole position for the first time in Formula 3 during a very chaotic and wet qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps

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Jack Doohan set a 2:21.953 early on and it was enough for him to hold onto provisional pole position ahead of Sunday’s race three.

Victor Martins will join the Australian on the front row of the grid after the Frenchman qualified second ahead of ART’s Aleksandr Smolyar in third.

As It Happened

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Doohan was the first driver out of the pitlane as the rest of the grid followed the Trident man ahead of a crucial qualifying around a damp Spa circuit.

The Australian crossed the line first as he set a 2:21.953 with his teammate Clement Novalak slotting into second and Smolyar in third.

Eight minutes into the session, the rain started to pour down as the drivers failed to improve on their lap times with sector two becoming the challenging part of the circuit.

With 15 minutes remaining, Logan Sargeant, David Schumacher and Matteo Nannini all improved as Doohan remained on top ahead of the Charouz of Sargeant in second and Novalak in third.

MP Motorsport’s Martins and Collet improved into second and third with the duo seven-tenths slower than pole-sitter Doohan.

Championship leader Dennis Hauger failed to improve on his lap time as he dropped down to 12th with Prema teammate Arthur Leclerc moving up to 11th.

With five minutes to go, Doohan remained at the top of the timing charts with Martins and Collet in second and third respectively.

Smolyar went purple in sectors one and three as the ART driver moved up into third place, but none was able to challenge Doohan as the Australian claimed pole position after Tijmen van der Helm brought out the red flag with 60 seconds left on the clock.

Martins stayed in second with Smolyar in third, Collet dropping to fourth after the Russian’s quick lap late on. Sargeant qualified fifth, Novalak in sixth, Frederik Vesti in seventh, Schumacher in eighth, Johnathan Hoggard in ninth, Roman Stanek in 10th, Jak Crawford in 11th and Lorenzo Colombo in 12th with the Italian claiming reverse grid pole position for race one.

What’s Next?

With more rain forecasted over Saturday and Sunday, the Formula 3 drivers will need to take what they learned in free practice and qualifying with them into the three races this weekend.

That being said, Colombo lines up on pole position for race one ahead of Crawford with the duo looking to become the 10th F3 winner this season.

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