Ramos resists late Stromsted charge to win FIA F3’s Imola feature race

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos passed points leader Rafael Camara twice to take his first FIA Formula 3 feature race victory at Imola.

Starting from pole for the third time this season, Trident’s Camara lost out in a drag race with Ramos on the run to the Tamburello chicane on lap one. Ramos swept around the outside and then resisted a renewed challenge from Camara into the Villeneuve chicane to stay ahead.

The front two quickly pulled clear of ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen, who had gained one spot off the line to third. It did not take long for Camara to regain the advantage, as he used DRS at the beginning of lap four to move ahead of Ramos before Tamburello.

Camara held a slender 0.5-second lead on lap 13 when the field was forced to slow for a virtual safety car period due to VAR’s Ivan Domingues coming to a stop following a collision.

Ramos made the better restart when the track returned to green to climb onto the tail of Camara, who was forced to defend the middle of the road from his pursuer at the beginning of lap 15.

The pair continued to run nose-to-tail over the next three laps before Ramos regained the lead on the outside into Tamburello on lap 19.

Having dropped two places at the start to fifth, Trident’s Noah Stromsted reclaimed third by passing Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp and Taponen during the first 10 laps.

He eradicated a four-second deficit to snatch second from Camara in the closing stages and then reeled in Ramos on the final lap, but missed out on victory by 0.277s. Camara finished 6.5s further behind in third to extend his championship lead to 21 points, with Taponen coming home fourth.

Sharp lost further ground to his team-mate Roman Bilinski in the race’s first half but the Rodin pair eventually faded. Campos Racing’s Mari Boya passed them both to finish fifth, with Bilinski shuffled back to eighth on the penultimate lap by MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz and Alessandro Giusti.

Campos’s Nikola Tsolov came home 0.4s behind Bilinski in ninth, with ART’s Laurens van Hoepen gaining seven places to 10th. Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne moved up five places to pip Sharp to 11th.

By taking the chequered flag in sixth, Saturday’s sprint race winner Tramnitz dropped to third in the standings behind Stromsted.

Race results (22 laps)