Practice-
Rafael Camara kicked off the weekend in which he could clinch the title in the perfect way, topping Free Practice for Trident with a 1:33.888.
Brad Benavides and Roman Bilinski were two late improvers to wind up second and third quickest, before a late Red Flag for title contender Nikola Tsolov, who came to a halt in his Campos Racing car, ending the session.
After waiting for improved track conditions, the majority of cars took to the track with 10 minutes gone and it was Gerrard Xie that led the way on a 1:36.476 for Hitech TGR.
Tim Tramnitz lowered the benchmark to a 1:34.619 for MP Motorsport with under half an hour to go, as Mari Boya settled into second 0.2s down on that.
Camara then leapt to the top of the times on a 1:34.138 to go 0.481s clear of anybody with his first flying lap of the day, before title rival Tsolov moved up to second, cutting the gap to 0.3s.
Ugo Ugochukwu lifted PREMA Racing up to third with just over 20 minutes to go, slotting in behind Tsolov. Charlie Wurz was the next to break into the top five, putting TRIDENT 1-2 as he went within 0.263s of his teammate.
The next set of improvements came with 10 minutes left on the clock, with Camara lowering the time to beat to a 1:33.888. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak went to P2 in his Campos, 0.4s off the Brazilian’s P1 time, with Noah Stromsted third a further 0.015s down.
Into the final six minutes and Bilinski cut the deficit to Camara to 0.2s, before Benavides went to P2 for AIX Racing, just 0.064s off the top spot.
The Red Flags were then deployed after Tsolov came to a halt ahead of Turn 12. With three minutes left of practice, the session was not resumed.
Qualifying-
Rafael Camara took a big step towards the 2025 Drivers’ Championship, taking his fifth Aramco Pole Position Award of the season.
Under pressure heading into the final attempts of the day, the Trident driver delivered a 1:32.510 to go less than a hundredth clear of his Campos Racing rival Mari Boya in second. Tuukka Taponen finished third for ART Grand Prix after a late improvement of his own.
Ugo Ugochukwu laid down the time to beat early on, setting a 1:33.436 on his first attempt for PREMA Racing. Noah Stromsted beat that shortly after to go quicker on a 1:33.054, with Laurens van Hoepen going up to second for ART, 0.055s down on the TRIDENT driver’s time.
Camara had been P5 after his first laptime of the session, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4. He immediately returned to the pitlane complaining of too much understeer around the entirety of the lap.
Campos opted to hold their drivers back to run in the gap on an empty track. It looked to pay off them in their first runs, with Boya going to the top of the times on a 1:33.013. Teammates Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak followed by going P2, 0.3s down, while Nikola Tsolov went to fourth after their first laps.
The trio returned to the pit lane while the rest of the field headed back out for their second set of attempts with half the session remaining.
Brando Badoer put PREMA to the top and teammate Noel Leon followed to go P2 momentarily. MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti then posted a time to go quickest, until Charlie Wurz restored TRIDENT top of the pile on a 1:32.737. Ugochukwu followed across the line to go second, losing out on P1 by just 0.001s.
After the second flurry of laps, the top four were separated by just 0.089s, with Camara fifth, 0.110s off his teammate’s leading time.
The Campos trio then delivered their second attempts with Boya returning to P1 on a 1:32.653. Inthraphuvasak went to eighth 0.241s down on the Spaniard, but Tsolov was left P15 going into the final eight minutes of the session.
Into the final attempts and Gerrard Xie delivered an improvement to go up to second for Hitech TGR, 0.010s off Boya’s earlier effort. Theophile Nael went to third a further thousandth behind the Chinese driver, but Tuukka Taponen then went to provisional pole by the same margin, 1:32.652 putting him 0.001s clear of Boya in second.
Camara and Boya then set their final laps, and the Brazilian delivered pole position for the fifth time in 2025 on a 1:32.510, 0.008s clear of Boya who improved one final time to go second again.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Camara, P2: Boya, P3: Taponen, P4: Xie, P5: Nael, P6: Wurz, P7: Ugochukwu, P8: Badoer, P9: Giusti and P10: Wharton.
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