F3: Nael beats team mate Ugochukwu to maiden pole in Melbourne

Reigning Teams’ Champions Campos Racing got off to a strong start in 2026 with Théophile Nael beating Ugo Ugochukwu to pole position in Melbourne, giving them a front row lock-out for Sunday’s Feature Race.

Nael took P1 from Ugochukwu with his final lap of the day, the French driver’s 1m 34.187s seeing him beat his team mate by just 0.021s.

Ugochukwu had been fastest all session until that moment but was forced to settle for P2 ahead of TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater.

ART Grand Prix rookie Maciej Gladysz qualified fourth on debut, ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil driver Nicola Lacorte and the Red Bull-backed Mattia Colnaghi for MP Motorsport.

Taito Kato was the second ART driver in seventh, ahead of PREMA Racing’s Melbourne-native James Wharton in eighth.

Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer qualified ninth fastest, just in front of TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted, with Van Amersfoort Racing pairing Enzo Deligny and Bruno del Pino in 11th and 12th respectively.

This means the VAR duo will start on the front row when the grid is reversed in Saturday’s Sprint Race, which is set to start at 11:15 local time.

Until then, you can read a full report from today’s FIA Formula 3 Melbourne Qualifying on the website here.