Trident dominated the qualifying session at the Imola circuit, claiming the top three places. Santiago Ramos emerged fastest with a time of 1:31.767, ahead of teammates Fornaroli and Meguetounif.
As soon as the green lights appeared on the pit lane, the vast majority of drivers went straight onto the track to make the most of the 30-minute qualifying session.
The MP Motorsport trio was first in line to set a flying lap, with the Trident and Prema drivers following right after.
There was a significant amount of traffic on the Rivazza corner with drivers waiting to start a quick lap during the first run
Both Prema and Trident were expected to be the ones to beat over one lap, with Dino Beganovic clinching pole in round 1 in Bahrain and Fornaroli during the last round in Melbourne.
After the first run, Prema’s Gabriele Mini set the benchmark with a 1:32.598, followed very closely by Fornaroli, who was less than a tenth slower.
With 20 minutes to go, all the drivers were improving their laps, but the first red flag of the session was summoned as Rodin’s Callum Visin found himself stuck into the gravel trap in the Variante Tamburello (Turns 3-4).
After the crane cleared the Rodin car, the green flags were waved again and most of the grid went out again to avoid further stoppages of the qualifying session.
During the second run, Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe set the provisional pole with a 1:32:517 before most of the drivers went into the pitlane to switch into new tyre sets for the last couple of runs of the session.
Nonetheless, Fornaroli stayed out on track and took first place from Goethe with a lap almost 4 tenths faster and painting all three sectors in purple.
The newly recruited McLaren junior Alex Dunne also completed a lap while most of the field was on the pitlane and took provisional second place on his brand new McLaren liveried car.
During the first run on the second set of tyres, Prema topped the top 2 with Lindblad on the provisional pole followed very closely by teammate Beganovic.
Ultimately, the Trident drivers were the ones who found the time during the last flying lap, claiming the first three places for qualifying.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Fornaroli who topped the times, it was teammate Santiago Ramos who clinched his first pole position in Formula 3 setting a 1:31:767 with Meguetounif completing the top three for Trident.
The Prema trio followed Trident, with Lindblad as the leading car in P4, followed by Beganovic and Mini. Dunne split the Prema drivers, finishing fifth.
Goethe, Van Hoepen, and Browning completed the top 10 for the qualifying session around the Italian track.
