Tim Tramnitz secured his second F3 win, and his first for the 2025 season, in the Imola Sprint race. He was followed closely behind by teammate Bruno Del Pino in P2 and Nikola Tsolov in P3.
All 30 Formula 3 cars made their way over the ocean for the European leg of the 2025 season as the F3 Sprint Race got underway this morning. A familiar face returned to the grid with Brad Benavides driving for AIX Racing. Meanwhile, an eager Nikola Tsolov started in P5, hoping for another win this season.
Clean Start
Off the line, MP Motorsport’s Bruno Del Pino held the lead going into Turn 1, followed by his teammate, Tim Tramnitz, closely behind. Despite a tussle between teammates going into turn 1, all 30 cars got through lap 1 cleanly.
A yellow flag temporarily came out but caused no issues and the race went on cleanly.
Up at the top of the field, PREMA teammates Ugo Ugochuckwu and Noel León fought for position. However, after a few laps, they were both overtaken by Rodin Motorsport driver Louis Sharp. The other Rodin driver, Roman Bilinski, followed the drivers closely behind.
The race’s lead changed as MP teammates switched places, with Tramnitz taking the lead.
VSC turned SC
On lap 5, AIX Racing driver Nicola Marinangeli had an unfortunate trip into the gravel, which ultimately caused a rear wheel to come off. This caused him to pull off to the side of the track, leaving a wheel nut close to the edge of the track, a bad position for the cars going past. A Virtual Safety Car came out but eventually became a full Safety Car.
At this stage of the race, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and James Wharton made the most gains, with 4 positions gained.
Clean Restart from Tramnitz
On Lap 9, the Safety Car returned to the pits, and Tramnitz got a clean restart. However, behind, Tsolov and Mari Boya fought for P3, with Boya holding onto the position. However, during the battle, an issue occurred in Boya’s car, causing him to tumble down the order. At the same time, Matías Zagazeta went off in the gravel after getting pushed into the grass by Callum Voisin. This caused another yellow flag to be waved. After Boya’s issue, teammate Nikola Tsolov took P3 and continued down the road to get the MP cars in P1 and P2. The Safety car then arrived in response to Zagazeta’s incident whilst Boya rolled slowly into the Pit to retire the car.
Another Restart
On lap 12, the race restarted, and Tramnitz executed another clean getaway, building a gap to Del Pino behind him. Eventually, Voisin received a 10-second penalty for his involvement in the incident with Zagazeta. Unfortunately, León ran wide and dropped to 10th place, with Bilinski easily moving past him to take 6th position. There were battles all the way down the field as drivers fought for position using DRS to their advantage. Following his teammate, Ugochukwu, also went wide, allowing Bilinski to gain yet another place and move up to 5th.
Victory for MP Motorsport
MP Motorsport achieved a dominant 1-2 finish, with Tim Tramnitz taking his first win of the season. Bruno Del Pino secured second place, earning his maiden FIA Formula 3 podium, while Nikola Tsolov charged from P5 to take the final podium place.
Make sure to tune in tomorrow for the Formula 3 Feature Race, where Rafael Câmara starts on pole and hopes to keep the lead of the Championship.
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.