Edgar wins season-ending F3 feature race at Monza

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Jonny Edgar survived several restarts to score his first Formula 3 win in the final race of the 2023 season at Monza.

Zak O’Sullivan finished second to secure the same place in the drivers’ championship as his Prema team clinched the teams’ title.

Trident driver Oliver Goethe had been due to start from pole position but pulled off after the formation lap reporting a throttle issue – causing an aborted start.

Caio Collet therefore led the field when the race got underway, staying ahead of Edgar and champion Gabriel Bortoleto. The first of four safety car periods was then triggered when Franco Colapinto stopped after contact – effectively ending his hopes of holding on to second in the championship.

MP Motorsport’s Edgar took the lead from Collet at the start of lap six of 21, just as O’Sullivan climbed up into third while Bortoleto went deep at the Retifillo chicane. He went off at Roggia too, and then made small contact with Gregoire Saucy at Lesmo that caused the ART Grand Prix driver to go off with a puncture, causing the second safety car intervention.

At the restart, Collet went around the outside of Edgar in the Roggia, only for Edgar to fight back past into Lesmo. They would swap places again in two consecutive laps before the third safety car interruption, caused when Sebastian Montoya was tapped into the Roggia gravel by contact from Hitech team-mate Gabriele Mini.

Edgar was again under pressure at the restart but when Collet went deep into turn one, O’Sullivan went around his outside in turn two, then ran side-by-side with Edgar for the lead into Roggia.

Behind them, Pepe Marti was spun around in Curva Grande as he returned to the racing line after cutting the first chicane. That eliminated another driver from the battle for runners-up honours, with Ido Cohen also ending up in the gravel in avoidance.

The final safety car restart came with just a lap to go and Edgar managed to this time create a sizeable gap to O’Sullivan, and he held on to win by 0.2 seconds at the line.

Taylor Barnard meanwhile passed Collet around the outside at Lesmo to make it an all-British podium, and lift himself up into the championship top 10 at season’s end.

Bortoleto was fifth with Mari Boya sixth. Paul Aron had dropped back after being forced into the gravel by Leonardo Fornaroli at the second restart but recovered to finish seventh, enough to put him third in the final points ahead of Colapinto and Marti.

Race result (21 laps)