It was a PREMA Racing 1-2 at the F3 Sprint Race at the 2024 Belgian GP, with Dino Beganovic clinching the victory. Gabriele Minì, who led at the start, was caught by his teammate after an early Safety Car restart following a crash for Jenzer’s Max Esterson. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León secured P3 on the last lap of the Sprint, narrowly beating out MP’s Tim Tramnitz for that final spot on the podium. Unlike yesterday’s Qualifying, the track was damp, making the race all the more difficult for the grid.
At Lights Out
Minì had a better start of the two PREMAs at lights out. The Italian driver edged ahead of Beganovic into Turn 1, with Santiago Ramos into third. Tim Tramnitz, however, was soon into that third position in the scrap for track position.
Max Esterson found himself off-track at the top of Eau Rouge after a spin in the wet. The car was into the barrier, triggering a yellow flag. The Safety Car was soon deployed to recover the stricken Jenzer.
The Safety Car was back into the pits on Lap 3 triggering the green flag. Minì was quick to lead the pack away towards La Source with Beganovic hot on his heels. Less than a lap later, the second place PREMA was done the outside of Minì at Turn 4, while León passed Championship P2-sitter Luke Browning for P5.
A PREMA Switch-over
Before long, Tramnitz was on the back of Minì. Beganovic out front was getting messages from his engineer discussing to switch back positions with Minì – the Swedish driver had gone off-track on the overtake. However, the Stewards did note the incident.
On Lap 7, Meguetounif ran wide after a rumble with Browning, but recovered and was able to stay ahead. The incident was noted by Stewards, and Browning under investigation for forcing a driver off the track.
Beganovic was more cautious around Lap 8 after a big slide over the top of Raidillon, leaving Minì back on his tail with DRS. Meanwhile, the third PREMA of Arvid Lindblad was driving a blinder, up from P27 to P12 by Lap 9.
The Battle for P3
On the penultimate lap, León was off-track under pressure by Ramos. Beganovic was over a second ahead of Mini and Tramnitz falling back from the top two. León was now hot on the tail of Tramnitz for the final podium spot.
The last lap saw León in P3, up four places from lights out. Tramnitz was now under pressure from Ramos and in a brawl to the flag. Ramos has tried to pass Tramnitz around the outside of the Fagnes chicane but dipped into the gravel. They were alongside each other into Blanchimont, but it was León who came out ahead.
As they reached the chequered flag of the F3 Sprint at the 2024 Belgian GP, Minì had extended his lead in the Championship. His Championship rival Browning finished in P7, giving the Italian a good haul of points ahead of the Feature. León held off the pack to clinch P3, and Tramnitz had to settle for P4.
Post-race Penalties
Even after the chequered flag, the classification was changing; Lindblad and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak were handed five second penalties for track limit violations. However, both were outside of the points scoring positions.
Also noted for track limits violations were Meguetounif, Tramnitz, Martinius Stenshorne, Sophia Flörsch, Joseph Loake and Mari Boya. There may well still be penalties to be served after the end of an action-packed race.
https://everythingtrackside.com/f3-qualifying-2024-belgian-gp-voisin-secures-maiden-pole/
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