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Home Featured Colapinto wins Monza sprint race and climbs to second in FIA F3 points

Colapinto wins Monza sprint race and climbs to second in FIA F3 points

by Ida Wood

Photo: James Gasperotti

MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto is now the leading contender to be the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship runner-up after winning the Monza sprint race.

Colapinto was promoted onto reversed-grid pole following multiple penalties in qualifying, and lost the lead to team-mate Mari Boya on lap one as he made a stronger start.

ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov also jumped Colapinto by out-accelerating him out of the first corner, but Colapinto got back past him at the della Roggia chicane. Taylor Barnard also passed Tsolov there, while his team-mate Gregoire Saucy did some corner-cutting to get into third.

The safety car was then summoned due to incidents behind. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Caio Collet touched the rear-left tyre of Prema’s Paul Aron in the straight right after the start, causing the Mercedes junior a puncture. As a consequence, Aron lost control under braking and hit Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti at the first chicane, who hit MP’s Jonny Edgar on his outside. Aron and Edgar came to a halt, whereas Marti tried to continue. However, he went off at Lesmo 1 with front-left suspension failure, consequence of previous impact. Collet managed to get around to the pits for a new nosecone and tyre.

Racing resumed on lap five and Boya left it late to return to racing speeds. O’Sullivan passed Tsolov and then Barnard to get into fourth, but could not challenge the top three until lap 10 when he went around the outside of Saucy at turn one while Colapinto reclaimed the lead from Boya.

Saucy however was not giving in, and he tried staying alongside O’Sullivan until they clashed and Saucy punctured.

Boya got back into first place into the first chicane on lap 12, with Colapinto returning the favour the next lap. He resisted Boya thereon, who had to defend from new champion Gabriel Bortoleto going into turn on on the final lap. He defended well, but Bortoleto got past him at the della Roggia chicane after almost being pushed off at Curva Grande.

Bortoleto had started eighth and gained one spot on lap one, but then lost it again after the lap five restart. On lap seven he passed Tsolov and re-passed Christian Mansell, then got by O’Sullivan and Barnard to be third by lap 10. After that he saved his tyres before pressuring and passing Boya at the end.

Barnard finished fourth, and a 10s penalty for his contact with Saucy dropped O’Sullivann from fifth to 12th. That meant Luke Browning’s penultimate lap pass on Leonardo Fornaroli ended up being for fifth, having started 27th.

Similarly remarkable was Oliver Goethe’s charge from 22nd to seventh. He gained 11 places on lap one, then set the fastest lap as he picked off drivers. He was sixth by lap 11, but when he tried passing O’Sullivan on lap 15 he had a big lock-up and took to the run-off. Fornaroli and Browning passed him a lap later, leaving him in seventh once O’Sullivan’s penalty was applied.

Gabriele Mini finished eighth, and he is the last of the six contenders split by 20 points who will go into tomorrow contending to be title runner-up.

Race result (18 laps)

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Franco Colapinto MP Motorsport 34m06.988s
2 Gabriel Bortoleto Trident +1.325s
3 Mari Boya MP Motorsport +2.118s
4 Taylor Barnard Jenzer Motorsport +2.322s
5 Luke Browning Hitech GP +3.200s
6 Leonardo Fornaroli Trident +6.197s
7 Oliver Goethe Trident +8.012s
8 Gabriele Mini Hitech GP +9.885s
9 Christian Mansell Campos Racing +11.086s
10 Nikola Tsolov ART Grand Prix +11.467s
11 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing +12.134s
12 Zak O’Sullivan Prema +12.462s
13 Sebastian Montoya Hitech GP +12.766s
14 Dino Beganovic Prema +16.277s
15 Joshua Dufek Campos Racing +16.532s
16 Nikita Bedrin Jenzer Motorsport +20.035s
17 Sophia Floersch PHM by Charouz +20.338s
18 Alex Garcia Jenzer Motorsport +21.291s
19 Francesco Simonazzi Carlin +21.784s
20 Caio Collet Van Amersfoort Racing +23.684s
21 Kaylen Frederick ART Grand Prix +30.924s
22 Ido Cohen Carlin +33.316s
23 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix +1m36.911s
Ret Roberto Faria PHM by Charouz
Ret Ollie Gray Carlin
Ret Tommy Smith Van Amersfoort Racing
Ret Michael Shin PHM by Charouz
Ret Pepe Marti Campos Racing
Ret Jonny Edgar MP Motorsport
Ret Paul Aron Prema
Fastest lap: Goethe, 1m39.743s

Championship standings
1 Bortoleto 153   2 Colapinto 110   3 Aron 106   4 Marti 105   5 O’Sullivan 101   Beganovic 94   Mini 90   8 Goethe 73   9 Fornaroli 71   10 Collet 61