Practice-
Gabriele Mini started off his Melbourne weekend on the front foot, ending the Practice session quickest of all.
The MP Motorsport driver set a 1:29.137 to take top spot ahead of Noel Leon and Rafael Camara in second and third places for Campos Racing and Invicta Racing respectivly.
Sebastian Montoya led the way in the early stages for PREMA Racing on a 1:33.093, but that time was then bettered by Joshua Duerksen. The Invicta driver delivered a 1:31.939 to lead the field with 10 minutes gone.
Dino Beganovic was able to post an improvement soon after, going top on a 1:31.505 despite catching traffic in the final sector.
Duerksen responded on his subsequent attempt to restore his advantage at the top and became the first driver to dip into the 1:30s.
MP’s Mini secured the top spot before Nikola Tsolov then set the quickest effort for Campos. The Bulgarian’s 1:30.178 came just before the Red Flags were waving after a spin into the wall for Colton Herta on the exit of Turn 10.
Once the Hitech was recovered, the session resumed with 20 minutes left of practice.
Mini returned to the top of the times on his following lap, going narrowly ahead by just 0.017s before Leon usurped him by 0.018s.
Tsolov then went to the top on a 1:29.668 though Mini had been ahead before he lost his lap for exceeding track limits at Turn 6.
Into the final 10 minutes and Leon pipped his teammate by a tenth to go quickest until Mini secured top spot once again, this time on a 1:29.137.
A second red flag was thrown after a spin into the gravel for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Turn 12.
With the ART Grand Prix car cleared away, running resumed with three minutes to go, enough time for the majority to get back around for one final flying lap. Though there were several improvements, nobody could take P1 away from Mini.
Qualifying-
Dino Beganovic left it to the final lap to secure the first Aramco Pole Position Award of 2026, setting a 1:28.695 for the top spot.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver delivered an improvement in his final attempt to beat Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne and Alexander Dunne to pole, the pairing finishing second and third respectively.
Beganovic laid down the initial benchmark and a 1:29.953, 0.094s quicker than Joshua Duerksen in P2 and his Invicta Racing teammate Rafael Camara in third.
Stenshorne took over in provisional pole until Nikola Tsolov delivered an improvement of his own to go P1 with a 1:29.381.
The Red Flags were out following a snap for Mari Boya at Turn 12 that left the PREMA Racing driver in the barrier. He was out of the car and OK, and the session resumed soon after.
Qualifying resumed with 20 minutes left but after filtering back out onto the track, drivers returned to the pitlane for a fresh set of Pirelli tyres without posting improvements.
Drivers rejoined the circuit once more with 12 minutes to go, but before any times could be posted, Gabriele Mini pulled to the side of the track with an issue on his car, bringing out the Red Flags once again.
Due to the delays, the session ran to time, leaving just three minutes on the clock as qualifying resumed, enough time for just one final lap.
Provisional pole changed hands three times over in the final seconds but it was Beganovic that found the improvement to take top spot for DAMS on a 1:28.695.
He pipped the Rodin Motorsport teammates Stenshorne and Dunne, who both in turn had taken the top spot prior to the Swedes’ final attempt.
Noel Leon secured forth ahead of Tsolov, who fell to fifth by the chequered flag. Camara was sixth ahead of Kush Maini, Oliver Goethe, Duerksen and Inthraphuvasak in P10.
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