Strong performance from the Mercedes Academy driver, first points for Badoer
Noah Stromsted dominates the Formula 3 Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps! The Danish driver, a member of the Mercedes Junior Team, overtook Slater for the lead on lap three and managed to build a significant gap to his rivals, also setting the fastest lap of the race.
Ugo Ugochukwu finishes in second place, claiming his first podium in Formula 3, after losing third position in Austria due to a post-race penalty. It’s also the first podium for Charlie Wurz, son of Alex. These are crucial points for Team Trident, which takes the lead in the Teams’ Championship, overtaking Campos.
Fourth place for Nikola Tsolov, who gains just a single point on Rafael Camara, after the Brazilian climbed from eleventh to fifth. Completing the points-paying positions are Inthraphuvasak, Stenshorne, Del Pino, Badoer, and Slater.
Badoer thus secures his first points in Formula 3, after a very tough season for the entire Prema team, which is only now, in the last few races, beginning to return to the level of performance seen in previous years.
In the overall standings, Camara maintains a 28-point lead over Nikola Tsolov, while Tramnitz, who finished only eighteenth today, slips to 33 points behind the Brazilian driver from Team Trident.
F3 Sprint Race at Spa: race report
12/12 – Tsolov is unable to attack Wurz at Les Combes, while Inthraphuvasak passes Stenshorne to take sixth. The race ends like this, with Stromsted claiming his first Formula 3 victory ahead of Ugochukwu and Wurz. First points for Badoer, who finishes ninth!
11/12 – Wurz can’t close in on Ugochukwu and has to defend against Tsolov, who is in DRS range. Meanwhile, Badoer passes Slater at the Bus Stop and moves into the points zone.
10/12 – Camara also attacks Stenshorne, moving up to fifth place. Meanwhile, Stromsted has over six seconds’ lead on Ugochukwu, who needs to watch out for Wurz closing in with faster lap times. Slater drops further down to tenth and has to defend against Badoer, who can score his first point of the season.
Meanwhile, Mari Boya receives a 5-second penalty for track limits, risking dropping out of the points zone, right behind Badoer.
9/12 – Battle between Stenshorne and Slater at Eau Rouge; Tsolov and Camara take advantage, moving up to fifth and sixth respectively. Tsolov also attacks Stenshorne at the Bus Stop entry, gaining fourth position.
8/12 – Slater continues to lose positions, being overtaken by Wurz and having to defend against an attack from his teammate Stenshorne.
7/12 – Stromsted extends his lead to nearly three seconds over Slater, who is under attack from Ugochukwu. Behind them, Inthraphuvasak and Del Pino battle, with the young Spanish driver also losing position to Tsolov.
5/12 – Stromsted extends his lead, pulling Slater out of DRS range, while Slater has to defend against Ugochukwu closing in.
4/12 – Great comeback by Ugo Ugochukwu, who overtakes Wurz to move up to third place. Meanwhile, Inthraphuvasak faces a big scare, running onto the grass on the Kemmel straight and getting passed by Stenshorne.
3/12 -Using DRS, Stromsted manages to overtake Slater on the long Kemmel straight, taking the lead.
2/12 – Wurz manages to overtake Del Pino and moves momentarily onto the lowest step of the podium. His teammate Rafael Camara is also on the attack, passing Bilinski and climbing to ninth position, right behind his rival Tsolov.
1/12 – Slater gets off to a great start, also defending against Stromsted’s attack on the outside of Les Combes. Tsolov started cautiously, dropping to eighth position, while Camara gains tenth place by passing Callum Voisin.
First race of the weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit: Formula 3 cars will take to the track for the third-to-last round of a championship now in its final stages. After the chaotic Feature Race at Silverstone, Rafael Camara leads the standings with 120 points, 27 ahead of Tim Tramnitz and 29 ahead of Nikola Tsolov.
Thanks to the top 12 grid inversion, Freddie Slater will start from pole position. He returns to Formula 3 with the Hitech team after competing in Bahrain with AIX Racing, where he finished second in the Sprint Race. Alongside him will be Noah Stromsted in the Trident car, who has faded somewhat after a strong start to the season.
As for the championship contenders, Nikola Tsolov will start from sixth position, while Camara will start from eleventh. Tim Tramnitz, meanwhile, is out of the top group and must start from thirteenth position in both races this weekend. Good qualifying results also for Brando Badoer, fourteenth, and Nicola Lacorte, fifteenth.
PHOTO: FIA Formula 3, Prema Team, Team Trident, Campos Racing, Freddie Slater.
