The 2024 Barcelona F3 Feature race saw Arvid Lindblad take his first feature race win at the 100th race of Formula 3, followed by Chritstian Mansell and Leonardo Fornaroli.
An eventful sprint race on Saturday, saw the two leading Tridents come together, allowing Mari Boya to take the lead and eventually the win. However, the conditions were different for the Feature Race, and so were the results.
15 degrees cooler than the sprint race, with clouds overhead would benefit the Formula 3 cars and the tyre degradation. Although, small spots of rain threatened the session.
Christian Mansell, in his ART, started on pole. The PREMA of Arvid Linblad starting alongside him.
As the cars lined up on the grid, Chrisitan Mansell was raring to go. The lights went out, and the cars headed into turn 1 for the 100th race of Formula 3.
The Race Start
It was a clean getaway for the front runners. Alex Dunne, in his MP Motorsport further back, went wide and lost places. Goethe and Beganovic both made up places in the opening lap. Beganovic managed to take his PREMA around the outside of Ramos’ Trident.
Lap 2 saw Mansell already pulling a gap of eight-tenths. However, it was not enough to break DRS and Arvid Linblad quickly responded with a fastest lap.
By Lap 4, Lindblad, in his PREMA, managed to get within two-tenths of the leading ART. Beginning to look for opportunities to overtake.
On Lap 5, Lindblad dove down the inside of Mansell into Turn 1. Mansell managed to hold Lindblad off, but not for long. Lindblad went around the outside and made the move stick. Taking the lead of the race.
Oliver Goethe, in the other Red Bull sponsored Formula 3 car, was also making moves, taking the outside line against the Hitech Pulse-Eight of Stenshorne. Moving up into seventh.
Luke Browning in third did a fastest lap, beginning to close the 1.5 second gap to the leading pair. With Gabriele Minì and Dino Beganovic in 14th and 11th, Browning would take the championship lead.
Track Limits played a huge role across all the feeders in Barcelona. F2 and F3 saw results changes because of post race penalties and the issues continue in the Feature Race. Mansell and Beganovic both receiving warnings.
The Second Half
Luke Browning in his Hitech Pulse-Eight got the gap to Mansell in the ART under a second, but sticking around 0.9. It wasn’t close enough to make a move.
On Lap 15, Mansell began to complain about more rain falling. It seemed the rain was getting heavier, especially in the pit lane. Gabriele Minì, who came to Barcelona leading the championship, found himself in 16th and dropping through the ranks.
By Lap 16, the gaps up front began to grow, with three seconds between the PREMA of Lindblad and the ART of Mansell and a gap of 1.8 seconds to the Hitech of Browning in third.
Unfortunately, a black and white flag was given to Kacper Sztuka’s MP Motorsport for track limits. A sign of the struggles ahead for the drivers.
Remaining 5 Laps
Although there was light rain falling, no cars came into the pits or felt the need to switch over to wet tyres.
Sebastian Montoya had a great start to his weekend on Saturday, making up 12 places before a crash ended his sprint race. However, he managed to repeat the performance for the Feature Race, going from 27th to 13th.
By Lap 23, the fight from P3 to P10 had gotten incredibly close. Fornaroli and Browning head into the final few laps side by side.
Van Hoepen and Stenshorne touched as they went side by side for two corners, the tight battle ending Van Hoepen’s race as the ART sustained a puncture.
Fornaroli pushed again in the final lap for the final podium position. He went around the outside of Luke Browning, making the move stick and taking the third place. Oliver Goethe was close behind, only moments later also taking a place from Browning.
Lindblad tiptoed to the line as the track got slicker from the rain. However, the youngest driver on the Formula 3 grid took the flag in his Red Bull liveried PREMA. Followed by Chritian Mansell and Leonardo Fornaroli.
Leonardo Fornaroli’s move on Browning puts him in the championship lead.
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