The sun shone brightly in Monza as F3 provided the entertainment in the sprint race. A morning of action proved how good F3 racing is. Kato takes his first win in the temple of speed.
Post qualifying penalties changed the grid with Brandon Badoer starting on pole instead of Mateo de Palo. Badoer and Clerot started from the front, making it an all Rodin front row.
Image: Formula 3 X
Badoer led the field into the first corner with all the drivers having a very clean start during the first few corners. Badoer went wide in turn 1 on the second lap, allowing Clerot to close the gap. Both Rodin cars were able to pull away from Taponen early in the race. Badoer ran wide again and Clerot made the most of the mistake by taking the lead.
Safety Car
Taponen made the most of the DRS on the third lap by overtaking Badoer to split the 2 Rodins. Four wide on the start of lap 4 proved to be detrimental with huge contact between Barichello and Taponen, as we all held our breaths hoping the field wouldn’t hit them. Badoer also got front wing damage from the collision. Giusti managed to grab the lead of the race during the chaos.
Image: Formula 3 X
Virtual Safety Car
Giusti went early, catching the field by surprise at the restart. Kato went around the outside of Rivera to claim P3. There was a brief yellow flag for Gladysz stopped on track. Meanwhile, further back in the field, championship leader Freddie Slater had worked his way into 7th place. Huge lock up from Colnaghi sent him straight into the run off area of turn 1 narrowly escaping contact with Rivera. Eventually a VSC was declared on track.
Halo proves it worth once again
We returned to green flag conditions on lap 9. Many drivers ran wide as Clerot took the lead from Giusti. Kato was in great form as he overtook Giusti to claim 2nd. Unfortunately, on lap 10 Clerot’s smoking car stopped on track due to mechanical failure. Unfortunately Xie couldn’t see with the smoke and collided heavily with Shin sending himself up in the air and into the barrier. The halo proved its worth once again as both drivers emerged safely from their cars. Meanwhile Slater moved further up the field into 5th. A great 10 laps so far for Nael as he climbed from 28th to 12th.
Image: Formula 3 X
Safety Car ends
Safety Car ended at the end of lap 13. Giusti had a great start to lead Yamakoshi and Kato with Slater moving up to 4th. Further back in the field Lacorta moved into P12 and Ugo moved up to 16th. Nael claimed another place moving into 10th. Kato took the lead from Giusti. Four wide into turn 1 sent Slater into the grass. Rivera fell back to 7th after locking up into turn 1. Slater overtook Yamakoshi to claim 2nd but was overtaken again by Yamkoshi in the DRS zone.
Kato takes his first win in the temple of speed.
With 2 laps to go Giusti ran wide allowing Slater to take 2nd. A great overtake from David on Giusti helped him claim 4th after starting 17th. The sprint ended with a first win for Kato as championship leader Slater finished in 2nd followed by Yamakoshi in 3rd.
Image: Formula 3 X