An action-packed race saw two safety cars and five retirements, with James Wharton out to prove his skills with his reverse pole position in the F3 Austrian Sprint race.
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Lights Out & Safety Car
Bruno Del Pino, with his best qualifying of the season, stalled significantly on the formation lap. He managed to salvage his race and overtake to his original grid position.
James Wharton led the group as the lights went out in Spielburg, with a perfect launch into turn one. Charlie Wurz fought hard to maintain his third position against Brando Badoer. Rafael Camara began gaining positions by the second lap, proving his dominance in the series so far this year.
A safety car occurred in turn three, as Tuukka Taponen spurred two early retirements. The incident with Christian Ho had a domino effect, with Louis Sharp an unlucky bystander, as all three retired only two laps in. A ten-second time penalty was handed to Christian Ho for causing the collision.
Back To Racing
The race resumed with 27 drivers back in position, with James Wharton again gaining distance. Nikola Tsolov gained up to seventh position in the first few laps, fighting off Callum Voisin behind.
Brand Badoer took a curb harshly, with Carama swiftly beginning a battle for fifth place in lap six. A back and forth occured before Camara went wide and fell back to sixth position.
Del Pino and Benavides collided on lap 6th, with Del Pino’s front wing taking most of the damage. Benavides suffered a puncture, putting them both at the back of the race and out of the points.
James Wharton was maintaining as Giusti gained DRS, and scraped by to continue to hold the lead position in the race. Close behind them, Ugochukwu and Badoer are fighting closely for fourth.
Camara and Tsolov were fighting for place and critical championship points as they fought to gain sixth position. Tsolov made contact with his rear tyre, forcing Camara to go wide into the gravel. He then dropped significantly down to ninth place, seemingly lacking his usual pace this season.
Close Calls
On lap 12, the first 19 cars all still had DRS, the race close knit. Giusti made another premature move on Wharton, battling for that first place.
As Giusti fought for second, Charlie Wurz was spun around by Badoer and shattered his hopes of a first home podium. The incident took Wurz out of the race and brought out the second safety car of the session. Badoer was able to restart the race as he replaced his front wing.
Sprint To The Finish
Nikola Tsolov used the chaos to climb through the ranks, sitting comfortably in fourth on lap sixteen as several incidents and swift moves allowed him to find himself in touching distance of the podium.
James Wharton maintained composure as he led the race, keeping the pace of the pack after the safety car ended on lap 17.
Giusti nudged close behind on the restart as Wharton warmed his tyres, before another great launch left the MP driver several car’s lengths behind.
Nikola Tsolov was fighting with his Campos Racing teammate Inthraphuvasak, before finding himself back in fourth position.
Tim Tramnitz managed to manouevre his way into a points position, finding himself in tenth place with less than two laps to go.
As DRS was enabled for the last two laps, Wharton sped more than a second ahead to cover his lead. Further behind, Camara made a move to overtake before being overtaken thrice, falling significantly back to eleventh position and out of the points.
Boya made the best of Tramnitz needing to protect his position, overtaking to finish sixth.
The final stretch was full of firsts and major milestones, with James Wharton and Ugo Ugochukwu’s first podiums, Wharton’s first win, and Australia’s first Formula 3 winner since Jack Doohan’s time in the series.
Fearure Image Credits: Mercedes Benz Archive