Barcelona-Catalunya: Théophile Naël secures third consecutive Formula 3 pole position

By Evelyn Mensah — 12 June 2026 — 3 min read

Naël’s Dominance in Barcelona Qualifying

Théophile Naël, a French driver for Campos, has achieved his third consecutive pole position in Formula 3. This accomplishment took place on Friday in Barcelona, where he recorded a time of 1:28.263. This time notably improved upon Rafael Câmara’s pole position from the previous year on the same circuit by half a second.

Naël’s strong performance was evident throughout the day. He had previously led the free practice sessions in the morning, where Campos cars occupied the top three positions. His qualifying session further solidified his form, as he also set the three fastest sector times.

His American teammate, Ugo Ugochukwu, secured the second position, trailing by only 39 thousandths of a second. This close competition between the two Campos drivers has become a recurring theme in the season’s qualifying sessions, with both drivers consistently challenging each other.

The Campos team demonstrated collective strength, with all three of their cars initially placing in the top three during the morning practice, all under 1:29.000. Although the competition narrowed the gaps in the official qualifying session, Campos maintained a dominant presence.

Other French Drivers and Sprint Race Outlook

Among the other French drivers, Enzo Deligny qualified in eighth place. His initial lap was disallowed by VAR due to going off track early in the session. Alessandro Giusti finished thirteenth, narrowly missing out on pole position for the reverse grid in the upcoming Sprint race.

The pole position for the Sprint race will be taken by Gerard Xie. Xie previously won the Sprint in Monaco and finished twelfth in the main race there. The Sprint race is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. and will cover 21 laps.

Théophile Naël, having secured pole positions in Australia, Monaco, and now Barcelona, is anticipated to be a strong contender throughout the weekend’s races.

Morning Practice Session Highlights

Earlier on Friday morning, Théophile Naël led the Free Practice session in Barcelona, marking a 1-2-3 finish for Campos Racing at their home event. Naël’s fastest time in this session was 1:28.422, placing him ahead of teammates Ugo Ugochukwu and Ernesto Rivera.

The session began with AIX Racing drivers taking to the track for push laps. Fernando Barrichello set an early pace with a time of 1:30.655, which was over seven-tenths quicker than his teammate Yevan David. The rest of the field joined the track with less than 30 minutes remaining in the session.

Bruno del Pino of Van Amersfoort Racing briefly held the fastest time with a 1:29.425, though several drivers were posting quicker sector times. Taito Kato then took the lead with a 1:29.103, closely followed by Freddie Slater, who was just 0.002s behind the ART Grand Prix driver.

The Campos trio subsequently took over the top positions, with Naël leading, followed by Ugochukwu, who was over two-tenths behind, and Rivera in third, 0.365s off the top spot. After these initial flying laps, all drivers returned to the pitlane before heading out again with under 14 minutes left in the session.

Despite the return to the track, there were few improvements in lap times as tyre performance began to decrease. The Free Practice session concluded with a Campos 1-2-3, featuring Naël, Ugochukwu, and Rivera. Alessandro Giusti secured fourth place, ahead of Kato, with Brando Badoer in sixth. Kanato Le finished seventh, followed by Noah Stromsted and Mattia Colnaghi, with del Pino completing the top 10. Drivers were scheduled to debrief with their teams before the Qualifying session at 15:00 local time.