Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Campos Racing’s Theophile Nael claimed a dominant victory in FIA Formula 3’s inaugural race around the Madring street circuit.
The Frenchman was followed home by the Prema pair of James Wharton and Alex Powell, with the American-Jamaican driver claiming a maiden F3 podium on only his second weekend with the Italian team.
In the championship battle, Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu closed the gap to championship leader Freddie Slater to just 12 points as the Trident driver struggled to make ground after a fraught qualifying had left him back in 17th on the grid.
Clean overtaking proved virtually impossible around the fast but narrow track, as errors were punished severely, limiting the opportunities for those lower down the grid to recover positions.
Wharton had lined up on pole but it was Nael who led into the first corner after making the best getaway from the outside of the front row.
Wharton tried to fight back, passing Nael into the Turn 5 chicane but ran wide in the process and was forced to cede the position later on the lap, managing to do so without letting his team-mate make a move.
Behind the leaders, MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Guisti ran wide at the first corner and in the process moved himself into fourth having started fifth. The Williams junior kept the position until the fourth lap when his team instructed him to give it back to Van Amersfoort’s Bruno Del Pino.
With Nael cruising up front, his team-mates Ernesto Rivera and Ugochukwu were in battles of their own, the Red Bull junior squabbling with Giusti for fifth on lap 11 as the field began to string out.
Ugochukwu found himself looking to pass Hitech’s Jin Nakamura for eighth while title rival Slater was stuck behind Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi in 18th after losing a further position at the start.
The Trident driver’s day was about to get worse as Enzo Deligny was handed a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, promoting Ugochukwu to eighth at the flag.
On lap 12 ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato executed a spectacular move round the outside on the approach to the first chicane to take 10th from Tuukka Taponen.
At the front though, Nael was cruising, having extended his advantage over Wharton to nearly nine seconds, and crossed the line to claim his third win of the season.
Behind the Prema pair, who ran in line astern throughout, Del Pino and Giusti completed the top five with Rivera, Nakamura and Ugochukwu following.
Despite his heroics, Kato had to settle for ninth with Taponen completing the top 10.