Prema return to the top as Hauger sets an electric lap at the death to deny Schumacher a maiden F3 pole at the Dutch Grand Prix

Dennis Hauger made his last competitive lap count as the Norweigan secured pole position ahead of Sunday’s race three.

David Schumacher was denied a maiden pole by the Prema driver but the German joins him on the front row with Victor Martins moving up to third at the death ahead of championship contender Jack Doohan in fourth.

As It Happened

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The three Trident drivers were sent onto the track first with the rest of the grid joining them on the track moments later.

As the drivers squabbled for position, Aleksandr Smolyar set the first competitive lap time with a 1:26.212 but his ART teammate, Frederik Vesti, went four-tenths quicker to top the timing charts. Doohan would then move onto provisional pole but was quickly displaced by Campos’ Amaury Cordeel.

Championship leader Hauger went quickest shortly after, one-tenth ahead of second-placed Schumacher and three-tenths quicker than Prema teammate Arthur Leclerc in third.

After a couple of competitive lap times were set, most of the drivers returned to the pit lane to get feedback from their team and prepare themselves for the second part of qualifying.

There were some drivers that decided to run during the gap and Ayumu Iwasa was one of them after not setting a lap time earlier. He set the third fastest lap time of the session, two-tenths slower than Hauger.

At the midway point of the session, Hauger sat on provisional pole ahead of Schumacher, Iwasa, Leclerc, Caio Collet, Doohan, Cordeel, Vesti, Martins, Clement Novalak, Smolyar and Rafael Villagomez rounded out the top 10.

Iwasa’s Hitech teammate, Jak Crawford, moved ahead of the Japanese driver into third place as the youngster went a tenth quicker.

Schumacher set a blistering lap time with a 1:24.715 as the Trident driver moved onto provisional pole ahead of Hauger in second and Collet in third.

The session was stopped with four minutes to go as Hunter Yeany spun at turn two. He eventually got going and returned back to the pit lane like all the other drivers.

In the dying embers of qualifying, Hauger went a tenth quicker than Schumacher to claim pole position. Martins also improved to move up to third ahead of Doohan and Novalak. Collet, Crawford, Smolyar, Iwasa, Leclerc, Logan Sargeant and Cordeel completed the top 12.

What’s Next?

Amaury Cordeel starts tomorrow’s race one from pole position alongside Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant as the Belgian and the American look to become the 11th different winner this season.

Championship leader Dennis Hauger starts from 12th with title contenders Jack Doohan starting from ninth and Frederik Vesti in 14th.

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