Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Pedro Clerot claimed his first FIA Formula 3 victory in convincing style by winning the first of two feature races at the Madring season finale.
Fourth place for Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu put him level on points with Trident’s Freddie Slater, who endured a miserable race. With Ugochukwu’s team-mates Ernesto Rivera and sprint race winner Theophile Nael also both finishing in the points, the Campos team deservedly made sure of retaining the teams’ title.
Starting 17th, Slater’s day went from bad to worse. After making contact with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi at the start, he then crashed out of the race on lap 10.
Following the pattern of the weekend so far, second place seemed the optimal position at lights out and Clerot pushed past ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato into Turn 1 to claim the lead, as MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen held off Ugochukwu for third.
As the field streamed out of the chicane, chaos ensued as the two Van Amersfoort Racing cars of Enzo Deligny and Bruno Del Pino came together after the Spaniard was forced wide in his battle with Hitech’s Jin Nakamura.
With two cars spearing into the barriers ahead, the following drivers looked to take evasive action, Fionn Mclaughlin reacting to the chaos ahead but making contact with ART’s Maciej Gladysz in the process, sending the Polish driver into the air, the halo brushing against the catch fencing on the side.
Prema’s Jose Garfias was spun around as a result of Gladyzs’s launch, while Fernando Barrichello, Noah Stromsted and Nicola Lacorte were all caught up in the incident with the latter able to continue round to the pitlane.
After a lengthy stoppage, racing resumed with Clerot leading Kato, the pair pulling clear of Taponen who was left to fend off a charging Ugochukwu.
Towards the rear of the field, Slater was beginning to become frustrated by his inability to find a way past his former Italian F4 rival, Yamakoshi. That frustration proved costly as a mistake into Turn 19 saw the Trident driver spin into the wall, eliminating him on the spot and necessitating the deployment of the safety car to clear up his stranded car.
Before the race was neutralised, Giusti had battled his way past Rivera at Turn 1 for sixth, putting the Campos driver off line heading out of the first turn and allowing Prema’s Alex Powell to follow him through for seventh.
Nakamura also had a look up the inside of Ugochukwu for fourth, the American wary of the championship as he gave the Hitech driver plenty of space. Despite this, the Japanese driver ran wide, allowing Ugochukwu to hold onto fourth place as the safety car was thrown.
Just two laps of running behind the safety car meant that it was not long before racing got underway on lap 12, the top three pulling clear of Ugochukwu behind.
Out front Clerot held on to secure a maiden F3 victory by 1.341s, with Kato and Taponen rounding out the top three after an absorbing race, although again one short of on-track overtaking.
Ugochukwu’s fourth place puts him ahead of Slater on countback, having taken more wins, going into Sunday’s final round.
Nakamura finished fifth, ahead of Giusti, with the impressive Powell again scoring points in seventh.