F3: Camara leads TRIDENT 1-2 in Melbourne Qualifying

Rafael Camara completed a clean sweep on Friday in Melbourne as he claimed the first pole position of the 2025 Formula 3 campaign.

Having gone quickest in Free Practice earlier in the day, the TRIDENT and Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy talent stormed to top spot in Qualifying, setting a 1:34.999.

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Team mate Noah Stromsted completed the front row in a strong showing by the Italian team, with their final car in sixth courtesy of Charlie Wurz.

Camara was quick from the outset, having set two purple sectors in the opening exchanges, but traffic in sector three prevented him from going fastest. On his next attempt, he retook top spot emphatically, half a second clear of anybody else at that point and the only drivers into the 1:34’s.

Mercedes Junior Team driver Stromsted then closed the gap down to just over a tenth of a second, going P2 approaching the final 10 minutes with a 1:35.128.

Nobody could quite catch the duo, with next-best Theophile Nael nearly half a second adrift of the TRIDENTs in third position after setting a 1:35.566 earlier in the session.

The improvements from Camara and Stromsted were well-timed, as with less than five minutes to go, the Red Flags were waving after PREMA Racing’s Brando Badoer found the barriers at Turn 2.

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The session resumed but only briefly, as Christian Ho stopped on track in his DAMS Lucas Oil car to bring Qualifying to an early end, with no one else able to improve.

Nikita Bedrin was fourth for AIX Racing and Tim Tramnitz completed the top five. Santiago Ramos of Van Amersfoort Racing is set to line up on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race, having ended the session 12th overall.

For a full report of the FIA Formula 3 Qualifying session, visit the official website here.