McLaughlin reigns in another slippery FWinter Series race

Photo: Alpha Live

Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin mastered more slippery conditions to score a second Formula Winter Series win of the weekend at Motorland Aragon.

Following the soaking wet conditions that McLaughlin triumphed in during race two, the track had dried enough for most of the field to opt for slick tyres for race three.

Simon Schranz in 20th place was the only driver to leave the grid on wet tyres, although the Jenzer Motorsport duo Bart Harrison and Artem Severiukhin – due to start seventh and 11th respectively – both opted to pit at the end of the formation lap.

Maxim Rehm made the fastest getaway to take the lead from fifth on the grid, although he slid on the entry kerb to Turn 1 and McLaughlin – who started third – slipped up the inside.

While they battled side-by-side for much of the first lap, using all of the track and much more, Schranz climbed up to fifth by the end of the first lap, and moved up to second within a few corners of lap two before taking the lead from Rehm before they reached the back straight.

Schranz then spun in Turn 1 next time around, causing him to fall back to fourth and behind fellow wet-shod runner Harrison – but both surged past McLaughlin and Rehm and to the head of the field later in the lap.

Midway through the race, McLaughlin – now ahead of Rehm to lead the slick runners once more – had fallen 25 seconds away from the lead, but he then set the fastest lap as the conditions came back to him.

With nine minutes to go he passed Schranz for second place but still had 10s to close to Harrison – which he did within three minutes to claim the lead and ultimately victory.

Rehm set the fastest lap on the last lap as he finished just 1.782s behind McLaughlin on the road, claiming second despite a five-second penalty for jumping the start.

Championship leader Gabriel Gomez finished a distant third ahead of Maximilian Popov and Kabir Anurag, with Bart Harrison nursing his wet tyres to finish sixth.

Title contender Leo Robinson pitted for wet tyres in the early stages and ended up outside of the points in 11th, the last unlapped driver across the line.

Race result (14 laps)