 Gabriele Mini (pictured) after taking pole position. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images) Prema's Gabriele Mini set the fastest time out of both groups in Friday qualifying to take pole position for Sunday's feature race in Monaco. Mini, in Group A, delivered a time quicker than Group B fastest driver Christian Mansell. Therefore, Mini will start on pole and ends top of qualifying, with Mansell in second. Luke Browning would be third as he was second in Mini's group. It is the second time in Formula 3 that Mini has taken pole in Monte Carlo, as he took pole in Formula 3's inaugural Monaco visit in 2023. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli in the classification is fifth, and therefore will start fifth on the grid for Sunday's feature race. ART's NIkola Tsolov will start on reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint race How the grouped qualifying unfolded in MonacoFIA Formula 3 would arrive for qualifying on the streets of Monte Carlo like usual on a Friday. However, free practice would have come before it on Thursday - in a four day weekend for the series. It would be Gabriele Mini who topped a disrupted session for dry running. The session saw three red flags before wet weather would come preventing anymore dry times. Qualifying works slightly differently for feeder series for drivers in Monte Carlo. Thanks to the delays that were caused due to the mental GP2 qualifying in 2011, two equal groups of drivers will go out at different times to prevent traffic congestion and to help things run smoother. The groups would be split into two groups of 15 and the fastest driver out of both groups would be given pole position, and then the fastest driver from the opposite group would start on the front row, in second place in Sunday's feature race. The sixth fastest driver from the second group would start on reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint race. The sixth driver in the fastest group would start from second in the sprint as this would mean both drivers would be 11th and 12th for the feature race. The groups would be split into odd and even numbers, with drivers with the even cars in group A.  Times for UK viewers for each session Group AGroup A, even numbered drivers, would consist of: Gabriele Mini (Prema), Leonardo Fornaroli and Santiago Ramos (Trident), Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport), Oliver Goethe and Mari Boya (Campos), Luke Browning and Cian Shields (Hitech), Maxwell Esterson (Jenzer), Noel Leon and Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort), Laurens Van Hoepen (ART), Tasanpol Inthraphuvasak and Josh Dufek (AIX Racing) and Piotr Wisnicki (Rodin Motorsport). The drivers headed out for a 16-minute session to try and put their best laps together to get pole position for the feature race and to but their group in best positions Luke Browning was the driver who set the first representative lap but it would be very decent lap as Fornaroli would be the only one to beat it on the first run. Fornaroli would set a 1:25.963. Noel Leon would go third. This would be a short session, so a ruined lap could be a session ruined for a driver. Browning once again went fast with a 1:24.532, Fornaroli would improve but to second - three tenths behind the Hitech. Mari Boya of Campos would show the pace he had in mid-season testing to go third. Before long, the third flying laps rolled around as the drivers and Browning would go quicker - by another three tenths. Gabriele Mini, who took pole in the 2023 round in Monaco went second ahead of Fornaroli. Boya to fourth. With two minutes to go the final laps started. Boya would be the first to do it but ran wide at the swimming pool to ruin his lap. Wisnicki could not make it to the line to start his lap. Browning on his final lap gave a massive whack of the wall on the exit of the swimming pool section and broke his rear right suspension, but managed to head back to the pits so drivers could finish their laps but Browning's qualifying was over. Mini and Fornaroli were on fast laps and both would improve. It would be Mini who improved the most as he would top the time sheets with Fornaroli jumping up into third as the session concluded. Mini would put a stunning lap on the board and would at best be on the front row of the grid for Sunday's feature race. A 1:23.942 would be the quickest out of his group. A great job from the Alpine Academy driver. Group BGroup B would be made up of the 15 drivers with odd car numbers. They were: Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad (Prema), Sami Meguetounif (Trident), Tim Tramnitz and Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport), Sebastian Montoya (Campos), Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech), Charlie Wurz and James Hedley (Jenzer), Sophia Floersch (Van Amersfoort), Christian Mansell and Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix), Nikita Bedrin (AIX), Callum Voisin and Joseph Loake (Rodin). With Gabriele Mini holding provisional pole, the drivers headed out aiming to beat it as the green light came on at the end of the pit lane. The time they all had to beat was a 1:23.942 There would be a driver change this weekend at Jenzer. Matias Zagazeta was out recovering from having his appendix removed. So in his place, James Hedley, British GB3 driver, would come in for his debut. A very tough start to his first Formula 3 qualifying as he found the wall at Saint-Devote bringing out the red flag and suspending the session. He was able to get out of the pits but his session would be ruined. The session would resume and drivers would be needing to get on with it for their representative laps. Sami Meguetounif would be the first to complete one and would set a 1:26.098. He would not stay at the top for long, as Prema's Dino Beganovic would beat it by half a second. Beganovic would go half a second faster than the Trident of Meguetounif with a 1:25.569. Christian Mansell and Tim Tramnitz would also go quicker than Meguetounif's lap time. Mansell would go second while Tramnitz would grab third. Sebastian Montoya was a provisional fifth with Nikita Bedrin on a provisional front row for Saturday's sprint. On the second runs Meguetounif would improve to go second but Beganovic would improve even further. However, the Swedish driver would be beaten twice. Beganovic's teammate Arvid Lindblad would go quicker by over a tenth but Lindblad would be beaten by Christian Mansell who would put in a great effort to go top of the times. The drivers would be preparing for their final laps and their final attempts to dislodge Mini as they were a way off as yet. Mansell's time was a 1:24.921 - almost a second off the pace. Beganovic and Lindblad would be up on Mansell's time and might have fancied their chance to improve to try and claim pole position for themselves in the feature race but they would not be able to complete their laps as a red flag came out before the drivers on fast laps could complete them. Charlie Wurz had found the wall at Saint-Devote, similar to his Jenzer teammate James Hedley did, earlier in the session. The red flag was brought out as he could not get his car moving again. His session was over and so was everyone else's as the session would not be resumed. Christian Mansell would top the session but it was not enough to surpass the time of Gabriele Mini to take his first pole position in the category, but he would still start on the front row for Sunday's feature race, where the main points are on offer. Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad might have had a chance but it was not to be and they will lineup fourth and sixth on Sunday, with Lindblad fourth. Gabriele Mini, however would take pole position for the feature race. His second pole in two visits to Monaco in FIA Formula 3. Mansell, as mentioned will join him on the front row. Great positions for the two drivers to start with a circuit that produces limited overtaking. Luke Browning would be third on the grid with Arvid Linblad joining him on the second row in fourth. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli will start fifth with Beganovic in sixth. Mari Boya, despite running off the road in the latter stages will go from seventh and Joseph Loake eighth - his best qualifying in Formula 3 so far. Noel Leon in ninth and Tim Tramnitz 10th in the overall classification. Laurens Van Hoepen would be 11th and Nikola Tsolov would start from reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint, after he was 12th in the overall classification. It would be an ART sprint race front row lockout. After an exciting qualifying session, the anticipation for Formula 3 builds up to the two races around the streets of Monte Carlo on Saturday and Sunday. The Sprint Race will commence at 10:45 local time for Monaco. 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 4 - Monaco qualifying provisional classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk
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