Sacha Fenestraz beat Formula 4 South East Asia’s Muhammad Ibrahim to win the second round of the iRacing-based April Isolation Dallara Formula 3 Esports series at Barber Motorsports Park.
A total of 40 drivers turned up for the event, which uses the Dallara F317 car, with McLaren Formula 1 star Lando Norris unable to take part due to a late entry. The size of the entry list meant two six-lap heats were required after qualifying to narrow down the grid for the 12-lap feature race.
Fenestraz took his heat win from second on the grid, inheriting the lead after a netcode issue meant he had contact with poleman and International GT Open star Martin Kodric. A lap one caught out much of the midfield, and it was round one winner Ramez Azzam and FIA F3 driver Liam Lawson who finished second and third.
The second heat was comfortably won by poleman Ibrahim, ahead of Renault junior Caio Collet and BRDC British F3 champion Johnathan Hoggard. Ibrahim caught GT4 driver Alfred Nilsson napping at the start, with the Swedish driver subsequently dropping further down the order.
Former BRDC British F3 star James Pull was running well, but a spin hampered his race and also held back those around him, including DTM racer Ed Jones.
In the feature race, Fenestraz led the way at the start and kept a small gap to Ibrahim. The pair pressured each other throughout, but Fenestraz remained out of touching distance for Ibrahim and won by 2.097 seconds.
Rounding out the podium was British F3-bound driver Bart Horsten, who held off Hoggard. Nilsson recovered to fifth ahead of IMSA race-winner Harry Tincknell.
Azzam, who won at Spa, had a difficult opening lap and made contact with Australian F3 champion Callan Williams on the penultimate lap of the race. This span the latter, and they ended up finishing 10th and 15th.
Lawson, who started fifth, ran wide at the start and retired following heavy contact with Enzo Fittipaldi.
Collet recovered from an early off to finish ninth, while Olli Caldwell (involved in the first heat carnage) climbed 21 spots to 18th.