Camara wins red-flagged FIA F3 feature race washout in Melbourne

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Rafael Camara took a controlled victory in the rain from pole in FIA Formula 3’s feature race in Melbourne.

Camara led home team-mate Noah Stromsted and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Theophile Nael in a contest which started behind the safety car and ended wirh red flags.

The conditions resulted in several formation laps being completed behind the safety car before the race got underway with a rolling start.

Camara pulled out more than a two-second lead over Stromsted through the opening few corners, but a collision between Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov and Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin approaching turn nine caused the safety car to return to track after just once racing lap.

The green flags were shown at the end of lap five, with the rain having eased off by this point, and Camara again was able to immediately pull away at the front. He built more than a five-second advantage before the race was neutralised once more when DAMS driver Christian Ho lost control on a kerb at turn six and crashed into the wall.

As the rain intensified while drivers followed the safety car, officials made the decision to bring out the red flags on lap 18 out of 20, with the race not resuming. Camara therefore ended his first F3 weekend with victory, with Stromsted and Nael both taking maiden podiums.

AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin followed the front three throughout to take fourth ahead of MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz and Trident’s Charlie Wurz.

Campos driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak held on to seventh after withstanding pressure from Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne, who had earlier snatched eighth from fellow McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu. After having a look up the inside of Inthraphuvasak into turn three, Stenshorne’s challenge faded and he came under pressure from Rodin’s Roman Bilinski.

Stenshorne was able to keep hold of eighth, with Bilinski finishing ninth and Prema’s Ugochukwu 10th. Hitech’s Joshua Dufek recovered from an early excursion to take 11th ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen.

Saturday’s sprint race winner Santiago Ramos tumbled down the order early on after going off at turn one and was classified 16th, while DAMS’ Matias Zagazeta was awarded a 10-second penalty for rear-ending MP’s Alessandro Giusti.

Race results (16 laps)