Taito Kato snatches F3 Madrid pole in Qualifying 1 by 12 milliseconds
Taito Kato secured pole position for the opening Formula 3 Feature Race of the Madrid season finale after a qualifying battle decided by just 12 milliseconds. The ART Grand Prix driver held off Rodin Motorsport’s Pedro Clerot, with MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen completing the top three.
Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu, one of the championship contenders, qualified fourth, while VAR’s Enzo Deligny completed the top five. The result gives Ugochukwu a valuable starting position ahead of Saturday’s racing, with the title fight already under intense pressure in the season finale. The wider championship picture is covered in five things to watch in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 title fight.
Qualifying was split into two 20-minute sessions rather than the championship’s standard 30-minute format. That reduction left little margin for error around the tight and demanding Madring circuit, forcing drivers to reach their performance window quickly and make every fast lap count.
Slater’s session unravels as Kato responds
Kato established the early benchmark with a 1:51.127, initially holding an advantage of almost a second. Bruno del Pino and Enzo Deligny moved into the leading group, while PREMA Racing’s Alex Powell came within a tenth of the provisional pole time.
The major contenders were still to complete their best efforts, but Freddie Slater and Ugochukwu could only move into the top five on their early attempts. Clerot then produced the key improvement, beating Kato by 92 milliseconds and taking control after the first half of the session.
Slater’s qualifying challenge deteriorated when he reported difficulty with the car and returned to the pits for a replacement rear-right tyre. He later said the car was crabbing, and the issue pushed him outside the top 12. Given only one fast lap for a final recovery attempt, he ran deep at Turns 1 and 2 and could manage only 17th on the grid.
Ugochukwu, by contrast, delivered a late improvement to rise to fourth. Kato then found the response he needed, returning to the top with a lap 12 milliseconds faster than Clerot’s best. No further improvement was enough to dislodge him, confirming pole for Saturday’s first Feature Race.
Brando Badoer also brushed the wall at Turn 19 and returned to the pits with his car crabbing, leaving his team a race against time before the second qualifying session.
Top 10
- Taito Kato — ART Grand Prix
- Pedro Clerot — Rodin Motorsport
- Tuukka Taponen — MP Motorsport
- Ugo Ugochukwu — Campos Racing
- Enzo Deligny — VAR
- Jin Nakamura — Hitech
- Ernesto Rivera — Campos Racing
- Alessandro Giusti — MP Motorsport
- Bruno del Pino — VAR
- Alex Powell — PREMA Racing
Simone Scanu
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.