Lindblad scores first F3 feature race win with faultless Barcelona drive

Photo: Red Bull

Arvid Lindblad took a commanding victory in the Formula 3 feature race at Barcelona, winning by more than four seconds over pole-sitter Christian Mansell.

The Prema driver took the race lead early on and put in a faultless drive to extend the lead at the front of the order. Rain late on forced him to back off the pace, but he had more than enough time in hand to take the chequered flag comfortably ahead of Mansell and secure his second victory of the season.

Early in the race, there were spots of rain in the pit lane, but the track remained relatively dry until just after the midpoint of the 25 lap encounter. Rain was then reported in sector three, but it wasn’t heavy enough for anybody to take the gamble and switch tyres. On the final laps, the rain became heavier, but most of the field managed to keep the cars on track to complete the race.

It was in those final two laps that most of the movement came at the front of the order.

After being passed by Lindblad early on, Mansell had a lonely race with a gap of over a second back to Luke Browning, who himself had Leonardo Fornaroli on his tail. In the final laps, Fornaroli managed to get alongside Browning and force a way through to take the podium position, and with the championship lead. 

Oliver Goethe, who had spent the race battling Nikola Tsolov, Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne, came through to demote Browning to fifth.

In the final laps, the battle between van Hoepen and Stenshorne came to a dramatic close as the two made contact and van Hoepen tumbled down the order with a puncture. Stenshorne was able to continue, but would also suffer a puncture and limped across the line as the last of the finishers.

Tsolov managed to avoid the drama to finish sixth, just ahead of the battling Alex Dunne and Mari Boya. Dino Beganovic took ninth, holding off Noel Leon and Sergio Ramos.

Race results (21 laps)