2026 | Eurocup-3 | Jerez | Qualifying 1 | Egozi takes crucial pole ahead of Strauven

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James Egozi strengthened his position at the head of the 2026 Eurocup-3 Championship by securing pole position during Qualifying 1 at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto.

The Palou Motorsport driver produced a 1:33.773 late in the session to beat Griffin Core by Campos rookie Thomas Strauven by 0.169s. Enzo Tarnvanichkul completed the top three, only 0.023s behind his teammate, while Gianmarco Pradel and Alex Powell rounded out a closely matched top five.

Egozi arrived at Jerez with a commanding championship advantage after extending his lead during the previous round at Silverstone, but much of the pre-event running had belonged to René Lammers. The MP Motorsport rookie had repeatedly set the pace during Official Collective Testing at Jerez before also topping both Official Previous Test sessions on Thursday.

Qualifying therefore marked an immediate change at the front as Egozi delivered when the competitive portion of the weekend began.

Egozi strikes first at Jerez

The 29-car field headed onto a dry Circuito de Jerez for the first Qualifying session of Round 6, with Egozi facing his first opportunity of the season to move closer to mathematically securing the Drivers’ Championship.

The American completed ten laps and produced his 1:33.773 benchmark on lap nine, averaging 169.8kph around the Spanish circuit. His performance represented a significant improvement over the times seen throughout Testing and placed him comfortably clear of his own previous best from Thursday.

Strauven emerged as Egozi’s closest challenger. The Griffin Core by Campos rookie completed his quickest lap on the final tour of his 11-lap programme, stopping the clock at 1:33.942 and finishing 0.169s away from pole.

His performance continued an encouraging run at Jerez. Strauven had already come within 0.015s of Lammers during the second Official Previous Test session after losing his quickest lap in the morning. His pace carried directly into Qualifying as he secured a front-row starting position.

Tarnvanichkul followed only 0.023s behind Strauven. His 1:33.965 gave Griffin Core by Campos two cars immediately behind Egozi and ensured the team remained firmly involved at the front after its strong Testing programme.

Pradel leads MP Motorsport challenge

Pradel emerged as the leading MP Motorsport driver after setting a 1:33.977 on the fourth of his seven completed laps.

The Australian finished only 0.204s behind Egozi and 0.012s away from Tarnvanichkul. That placed him ahead of several drivers who had featured more regularly at the top of the timesheets throughout the preceding days.

Powell completed the top five for Griffin Core by Campos with a 1:33.985, leaving him only 0.008s behind Pradel. His result gave the team three cars inside the first five positions and continued the strong form he had shown during the Official Previous Test, where he finished second and third across the two sessions.

Lammers had dominated much of the Jerez running before Qualifying but had to settle for sixth. After setting the outright benchmark during the two-day Collective Test and then topping Thursday’s two sessions, the MP Motorsport rookie recorded a 1:33.993 when it mattered in Qualifying.

Only 0.008s separated Lammers from Powell, while he finished 0.220s behind Egozi. The top six therefore remained exceptionally close despite the championship leader establishing a clearer margin at the front.

Palou Motorsport places three cars inside top eight

Palou Motorsport backed up Egozi’s pole with another competitive team performance as Heitor Dall’Agnol and Rafaël Pérard joined their teammate inside the first eight positions.

Dall’Agnol recorded a 1:34.051 and finished 0.278s behind Egozi. Pérard followed with a 1:34.073, leaving only 0.022s between the two rookies and giving Palou Motorsport three cars within three tenths of pole.

Christopher El Feghali led Drivex in ninth after setting his fastest time on his final lap. His 1:34.192 left him 0.419s away from the benchmark, while Ean Eyckmans completed the top 10 for MP Motorsport.

Eyckmans’ 1:34.212 left him 0.439s behind Egozi and represented a difficult opening to a weekend where the Belgian needed to reduce the championship leader’s advantage. After entering Jerez as Egozi’s nearest rival in the standings, starting from the fifth row left him with work to do in Race 1.

Al Azhari misses top 10 in tightly packed midfield

Keanu Al Azhari also faced a challenging first Qualifying session as the Hitech driver finished 11th.

His 1:34.219 left him only 0.007s behind Eyckmans and 0.446s from pole. Maksimilian Popov followed in 12th for Griffin Core by Campos, while Santino Panetta placed 13th for Hitech.

The margins demonstrated how competitive the opening session remained beyond the first few rows. Only 0.469s covered the leading 13 drivers, meaning relatively small differences in lap execution translated into significant changes in starting position.

Kacper Sztuka finished 14th for Tecnicar by Amtog with a 1:34.477, narrowly beating Hitech rookie Genaro Trappa by 0.004s. Filippo Fiorentino followed in 16th for Drivex, ahead of TC Racing’s Juan Cota and Eurocup-3 debutant Dani Maciá.

Lorenzo Campos and Bart Harrison completed the top 20 for Double R, with less than nine tenths separating them from Egozi’s pole time.

Egozi puts championship rivals under pressure

Further down the order, Stylianos Kolovos finished 21st ahead of James Hedley and Stefan Bostandjiev. Alceu Feldmann placed 24th for MP Motorsport, followed by Benjamin Beckley, Renzo Barbuy, Kai Daryanani and Bianca Bustamante.

Sam Urus completed the 29-car classification with a 1:36.110, leaving him 2.337s behind the pole time.

More importantly at the front, Egozi had converted his substantial championship advantage into the best possible starting position. He entered Jerez with the opportunity to wrap up the Drivers’ title early, while Eyckmans, Al Azhari and Lammers needed to prevent him from building an even larger advantage.

Egozi will therefore start Race 1 from pole alongside Strauven, with Tarnvanichkul and Pradel occupying the second row. Powell and Lammers form row three as the championship leader begins the opening contest with several of his closest rivals further down the order.