Victor Martins took victory in the FIA Formula 3 feature race at Sakhir as Arthur Leclerc stormed from 13th on the grid to second.
Franco Colapinto led away from pole for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Roman Stanek and Martins. But having moved up to fourth, Trident’s Zane Maloney slowed with an issue out of turn four, which caused chaos behind and an early safety car period.
Caio Collet (MP Motorsport) damaged his suspension on a kerb taking avoiding action, and Francesco Pizzi (Charouz) was tapped into a spin while passing Maloney – all three retiring. Zak O’Sullivan (Carlin) and Ollie Bearman (Prema) also made minor contact in the mele, but continued. Carlin’s Kaylen Frederick also spun on the opening lap.
Trident driver Stanek lost second to ART’s Martins when the action resumed, and then came under pressure from MP Motorsport’s Alexander Smolyar. But contact resulted in Stanek slowing with a puncture.
Colapinto and Martins pulled away, as the battle intensified behind. Smolyar conceded third to ART’s Juan Manuel Correa, and then lost a further place to Leclerc, who had made rapid progress in the early stages. Saturday’s sprint race winner Isack Hadjar tried to take fifth from Smolyar, but the Hitech GP driver suffered a puncture after the pair made contact and dropped down the order, eventually finishing 25th.
After closing in on Colapinto, Martins made a move for the lead into turn one on lap 15. Colapinto tried to defend the corner but ran wide on the exit, allowing Martins to sweep by. Having passed Correa for third, Leclerc was soon on the tail of Colapinto. With six laps to go, he dived up the inside to snatch second into turn one.
Martins cruised home to his second F3 win ahead of Leclerc, who closed the gap to 1.5 seconds by the finish. Colapinto held off Gregoir Saucy, who had made his way by Correa, for third at the finish. But a 5s time penalty for exceeding track limits demoted him to fifth, promoting Saucy to the final podium position.
There was a frenetic battle for the positions behind throughout, which involved more than 10 cars at one stage. Bearman, who tumbled to 14th early on, made a great recovery to finish sixth. Having also made an impressive recovery from 20th on the grid, Prema’s Jack Crawford pipped Smolyar to seventh on the line. But the latter was handed a time penalty and dropped to 22nd.
David Vidales (Campos) pipped William Alatalo (Jenzer Motorsport) to eighth by 0.6s, the pair having been in a close scrap for most of the race. Frederick recovered from his lap one spin to finish 10th. Pepe Marti came home 11th for Campos, but lost two positions due to a penalty, promoting Jonny Edgar (Trident) and Rafael Villagomez (VAR).
O’Sullivan slipped back to 19th by the finish, one place behind former GB3 rival Reece Ushijima.
Featured image credit: @FIAFormula3 official twitter
