Trident celebrate 1-2 after Red Flag riddled Quali
Starting the Australian Grand Prix weekend on a high, Trident is celebrating a 1-2 in Qualifying after Rafael Camara and Noah Stromsted defied Red Flag adversity to lock-out Sunday’s front row in Melbourne.
With a tense 30 minutes laying ahead of the Formula 3 field, Qualifying to set the grid for Sunday’s Feature Race quickly got underway.
Following on from this morning’s form, Louis Sharp instantly got amongst the top ten contenders, trading times with the likes of Practice’s fastest man, Rafael Camara.
The Kiwi trailed down the order as the session progressed, and in between Yellow and Red Flag delays, Sharp found himself set to start both events from 15th on the grid.
With a third of the session having ticked by, James Wharton finally launched to set his first representative qualifying time, a 1:37.076s which left him in P17.
Close to two seconds off the provisional pole time, the final ten minutes of the session saw the Australian tasked with improving from 22nd, however, the inability for anyone to truly get a clean run left him vulnerable.
When the session was brought to an early end, Wharton remained in the back of the pack, guaranteeing himself the 22nd grid slot for the Sprint and Feature Race in front of the home crowd.
As for the rest of the field, the young drivers gave the street sweepers a decent task at the end of the session, with Turns 1 and 6 causing a haul of nervous moments in the pitlane.
Out on track, it was Nikita Bedrin who found himself on provisional pole for the opening half of the session, recording a time of 1:35.770s ahead of his competitors.
Putting a stop to that, Theophile Nael charged two-tenths ahead of the AIX Racing driver, a slim margin compared to the gap Camara managed to execute with a new top time of 1:34.999s.
After a reset in the pits, the fight picked up where it left off with drivers battling for track position on their way to the chequered flag, however, that stint was brief.
Spinning into the wall at the exit of Turn 2, Prema Racing’s Brando Badoer turned the session on its head when he was forced to count himself out while adding the dramatics of a late Red Flag to Qualifying.
At the restart, Camara was tasked with defending provisional pole, however, his job was made easier when rival Nael emerged from the pitlane with a fan still attached to his airbox.
What came as an even better reward for the Brazilian was yet another Red Flag for a stricken Christian Ho on the outskirts of Turn 8.
With the Dams driver unable to bring the car back, the FIA confirmed the session would not be restarted, allowing Camara to celebrate his first F3 pole position on debut with the Trident team.
Giving the crew an extra something to cheer about was the fact that Camara’s teammate, Noah Strømsted, managed to hold onto the second fastest time, lending to a Trident 1-2 for the opening Feature Race of the season.
Image: Formula 3
Auto Action Premium on sale wherever you buy your magazines
- NSW | Wednesday 12th March
- VIC, SA, TAS and WA | Friday 14th March
- QLD | Saturday 15th March
READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE
For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
