After an early retirement yesterday in the sprint race seemed to be flipped around for the ART Grand Prix driver to claim victory, and his second win of the season so far. He was able to take the lead going into turn 1 on the opening lap and set the pace even with the 2 safety cars coming into play during the race.
Pole sitter Roman Stanek had some trouble keeping hold of the second position during the race from Isack Hadjar but was able to come across the line in P2 followed by Hadjar. Alexander Smolyar helping his team bring in a lot of points ahead of last years constructor champion Prema who saw Oliver Bearman finishing 5th and Jak Crawford in 6th.
As mentioned 2 safety cars were deployed in this feature race, on Lap 4 the Safety Car was brought out to recover Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez from the wall at Turn 4. With the Safety Car heading back into the pits four laps later, Martins didn’t hesitate to put his foot to the floor early into the final chicane, nailing an excellent restart to pull a sizeable gap from Stanek behind.
However 3 laps later, racing was brought to a halt once again on Lap 11 after Carlin’s Brad Benavides discovered the wall at Turn 2. In a near identical restart, Martins got things back underway, pulling away from Stanek and Hadjar.
And the race went on until the end Martin was able to come across the line to take top spot on the podium with a comfortable lead 2.4s clear of Stanek.
Where does this leave the championship?
Victory promotes Victor Martins back into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 62 points. Another solid weekend of results moves Roman Stanek up into second on 56, six points clear of Red Bull junior Jak Crawford. Isack Hadjar is in fourth with 47 points, and Arthur Leclerc completes the top five on 43.
PREMA Racing retain their hold at the top of the Teams’ Championship on 120 points. ART Grand Prix remain second on 98, ahead of Trident on 75. Hitech Grand Prix are fourth on 63, with MP Motorsport fifth on 56 points
We take a break before out next race for the forth round of the F3 2022 season at the iconic Silverstone Track in July.