F3: Mansell seals pole position for Sunday’s 100th race in Barcelona

Christian Mansell took his maiden Formula 3 pole position in dramatic fashion in Barcelona, meaning the ART Grand Prix driver is set to start the Championship’s 100th race on Sunday from P1.

The Australian driver left it until the final moments of the session to complete a lap of 1m 28.463s, giving him top spot ahead of PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad by just 0.036s.

READ MORE: Allison says Mercedes junior Antonelli ‘looks like the real deal’ as he assesses recent F1 test runs

Lindblad had twice topped the leaderboard, but the Red Bull Academy prospect is forced to settle for P2, giving the rookie driver his first front row start of the season.

Fresh from his victory in the Monaco Sprint Race, ART’s Nikola Tsolov qualified third fastest – the Alpine Academy driver’s best result of the year – with Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning in fourth and Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe in fifth.

Leonardo Fornaroli was the lead Trident in sixth ahead of the latest McLaren Development driver Martinius Stenshorne for Hitech.

Laurens van Hoepen made it three ART cars in the top 10 as he qualified in eighth ahead of the other McLaren backed driver in the field Alex Dunne in ninth, and Campos’ Sebastián Montoya in P10.

FP1: Norris heads Verstappen and Sainz in Barcelona first practice as Alonso brings out red flags

Montoya’s teammate Mari Boya recovered from his crash in Free Practice to qualify 11th, meaning the home favourite is set to start on reverse grid front row in the Sprint Race – which is set to start at 10:40 local time behind – Trident’s Sami Meguetounif.

For an in-depth report of the Formula 3 Qualifying from Barcelona, visit the official website here.