Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins claimed victory in the Barcelona’s FIA Formula 3 feature race after taking the lead in the first corner.
Behind Martins, polesitter Roman Stanek resisted the pressure from Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar throughout the race as they finished second and third respectively.
Martins took the lead of the race from Trident’s Stanek around the outside of turn one. Meanwhile, his championship rival Arthur Leclerc dropped four places due to a slow start, completing the opening lap in ninth place.
The safety car was out on lap four as a consequence of an incident between Rafael Villagomez and Kush Maini at turn 12. The Indian touched the right-rear wheel of the Mexican, who was on the outside, resulting in Villagomez ending up in the wall. Maini was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
At the restart, Prema’s Jak Crawford passed Hitech’s Kaylen Frederick for sixth place. Frederick was subsequently overtaken by Caio Collet, dropping to eighth.
Carlin’s Brad Benavides crashed out of the race at turn two on lap 11 of 24, bringing out the safety car once again.
When the race resumed, Saturday’s sprint race winner David Vidales attempted a move on Leclerc around the outside of turn one. Both drivers touched and the Campos Racing driver retired from the race at the end of the lap. Leclerc was able to continue in 11th, but received a five-second time penalty for the incident.
On the following lap, Hunter Yeany went into the inside of his Campos team-mate Pepe Marti at turn five. Yeany touched the left-rear wheel of Marti damaging his front-wing. Both drivers, who were running within the top 15, fell to the back of the pack.
In the closing stages, Leclerc tried to regain positions going through the grass on the pit straight, pushed off by an aggressive Juan Manuel Correa. The ART GP driver would retake 10th place with an unusual move at the entry of the chicane. This left Leclerc disadvantaged going onto the straight and Gregoire Saucy tried to take advantage of it. Leclerc held on to finish 11th on the road, 14th after his penalty was applied.
Trident’s Zane Maloney, who started from the pit-lane, avoided trouble and fought his way up to 13th place at the flag.
Race result (24 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 43m43.673s |
| 2 | Roman Stanek | Trident | +2.368s |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | +3.026s |
| 4 | Alexander Smolyar | MP Motorsport | +3.624s |
| 5 | Ollie Bearman | Prema | +4.348s |
| 6 | Jak Crawford | Prema | +5.420s |
| 7 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | +6.633s |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | Van Amersfoort Racing | +6.899s |
| 9 | Kaylen Frederick | Hitech GP | +8.431s |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART Grand Prix | +12.094s |
| 11 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | +14.186s |
| 12 | William Alatalo | Jenzer Motorsport | +15.236s |
| 13 | Zane Maloney | Trident | +17.510s |
| 14 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema | +18.398s |
| 15 | Oliver Rasmussen | Trident | +18.747s |
| 16 | Lirim Zendeli | Charouz Racing System | +21.287s |
| 17 | Ido Cohen | Jenzer Motorsport | +26.079s |
| 18 | Francesco Pizzi | Charouz Racing System | +26.651s |
| 19 | Nazim Azman | Hitech GP | +27.867s |
| 20 | Reece Ushijima | Van Amersfoort Racing | +28.281s |
| 21 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | +28.482s |
| 22 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer Motorsport | +29.713s |
| 23 | Enzo Trulli | Carlin | +29.906s |
| 24 | Laszlo Toth | Charouz Racing System | +31.123s |
| 25 | Kush Maini | MP Motorsport | +54.804s |
| 26 | Hunter Yeany | Campos Racing | +1m25.486s |
| Ret | Zak O’Sullivan | Carlin | |
| Ret | David Vidales | Campos Racing | |
| Ret | Brad Benavides | Carlin | |
| Ret | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Martins, 1m37.030s
Championship standings |
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