F3: Hauger snatches pole from Schumacher in Zandvoort qualifying session

Red Bull junior and championship leader Dennis Hauger returned to form in Zandvoort, punching in a sensational late lap to deny David Schumacher pole for the first time in Formula 3.

Hauger scored just six points last time out at Spa, seeing a 63-point championship advantage sliced to just 25 by fellow Red Bull protege Jack Doohan – with the Norwegian driver finding himself second to Schumacher with just minutes to go in qualifying at the twisting Zandvoort circuit.

It required a mammoth effort, but the PREMA driver found the extra time in the first two sectors to steal pole and get his title bid back on track.

Despite missing out on pole by a tenth, Schumacher will console himself with a first front row start, after Alpine junior Victor Martins fell short of second place with a late effort of his own.

Martins’s attempt, however, was still enough to give Hauger a helping hand in the title race, as he dropped Doohan down to fourth, in front of Clement Novalak. Meanwhile, his Alpine Academy and MP Motorsport teammate Caio Collet did enough to take sixth, ahead of Jak Crawford, Alex Smolyar, Ayumu Iwasa and Arthur Leclerc.

Finishing 12th overall, Campos Racing’s Amaury Cordeel will start ahead of Logan Sargeant in Saturday’s reverse grid Race 1, which takes place at 1035 local time.

Qualifying set the grid for Sunday morning's Race 3 that takes place at 1045 local time, while the grid for Race 2 at 1755 on Saturday will be set by reversing the top 12 finishers of Race 1.

For the full report, results and more news, visit the official F3 website.