ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov secured his second victory in F3 in the Sprint Race of the 2024 Austrian GP weekend. Polesitter Martinius Stenshorne, after a poor start, recovered to P2, followed by the second ART of Christian Mansell who dropped one place overall to P3. Alex Dunne secured some good points in P4, with van Hoepen in P5. However, it was a day to forget for Sebastián Montoya, who lost out in a scrap for P4 and suffered a major collision and was left out of the race.
Martinius Stenshorne started on Pole beside Christian Mansell in P2 for the 21-lap Sprint. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning, who qualified on pole for the Feature tomorrow, starts in P15 after receiving a three-place grid drop for impeding Beganovic in Qualifying yesterday.
At Lights Out
Mansell got the better start out of the two on the front. Beganovic spun off, with Gabriele Minì barely avoiding the spinning PREMA. However, Beganovic was able to keep going. Kacper Sztuka was not so lucky. He stopped up at the side of Turn 1 after a collision with Joseph Loake. The Safety Car was deployed, but not before Tsolov was up to P2, sending Polesitter Mansell down to P3.
With a green Flag on Lap 4, Mansell led the pack away towards the last corner of Lap 4. Luke Browning, determined to make places back, went round the outside of Arvid Lindblad at Turn 6 and promoted himself into P11. Mansell out front was eager to get some distance between himself and his teammate Tsolov, posting a 1:23.783. Tsolov was hot on his tail, staying within a second with DRS enabled.
Mansell Vs Tsolov
Despite Mansell’s efforts, Tsolov was round the outside on Turn 4 on Lap 8, with the two teammates once again sticking close to each other. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli was on a quest to make his was through the pack, starting in 24th, was up to 16th. However, he was forced onto the sausage kerbs by Mari Boya. The incident was noted by the stewards.
By Lap 10, every car on track was less than a second behind the car in front. van Hoepen was the first to lose a place to his opponent behind, losing P5 to Sebastián Montoya. Mansell was still hanging onto Tsolov out front, inching closer as the laps ticked down. By Lap 14, he was stalking the ART of Tsolov whose tyres were beginning to severely blister.
On Lap 15, Mansell took his opportunity to snatch the lead, before Tsolov was round the outside on the next corner to reclaim the lead. However, he was beginning to struggle with the blistering tyres. He was unable to keep the lead, once again giving it up to Mansell.
Huge Crash for Montoya
Just behind, the fight was on for P4 in the F3 Sprint race at the 2024 Austrian GP weekend. Alex Dunne held on, just under two seconds from Stenshorne in P3. Gabriele Minì was hot on his tail, as was Montoya. However, Montoya’s race would be cut short after a huge impact into the wall. Montoya clipped the McLaren livery of Dunne in the fight for P4. The Safety Car was brought out, and Montoya was able to get out of the car.
Just before the Safety Car, Championship contender Arvid Lindblad suffered puncture after contact with Sami Meguetounif in the middle of the pack. He limped back to the pits, but was unable to continue on. In the midst of the chaos, Christian Mansell was demoted to P3 after being passed by Stenshorne. There was confusion for the Australian as well as Tsolov, who mistook a signal in their earpiece for a Safety Car. The two came off of the throttle, and Mansell’s error allowed Stenshorne to pass.
Mansell spoke after the race of how his mistake was a ‘rookie error’ after a fierce battle with Tsolov;
“It looked like it was a bit of cat and mouse at times. Yeah, I mean, I was saving a lot behind Nicola in the DRS, was lifting off a lot just to keep him behind, have a bit of a steadier race and then attack in the end. And I thought I would save a bit of tyres, but to be honest, I didn’t. The rear was still overheating like crazy, and I’m not sure why.
But I mean, look at the end of the day, both Nicola and Martinez drove a good race. And I have to say I drove a good race as well, but obviously made a very rookie error, which sucks, but can’t take it back.”
Green Flag on Lap 20, Tsolov led the pack off as it hit the penultimate lap of the race. Tsolov successfully held onto the lead, followed by Stenshorne and Mansell. Dunne secured 4th, followed by van Hoepen.
Photo credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team
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