F3: Rafael Camara wins his debut weekend
Rafael Camara won Sunday's Formula 3 rain race in Melbourne. Noah Stromsted and Theophile Nahel joined him on the podium.
The weather forecast, which promised torrential rains on Sunday in Melbourne, came true. By nine a.m. local time, when the Formula 3 race was supposed to start, it was cloudy over the track, and the asphalt was wet after the rain. The racers started behind the safety car on rain tires.
Bernd Mailander led the peloton for four installation laps, during which rain began to fall, after which the race was started, lasting 20 laps.
The start was quiet. Pole holder Rafael Camara confidently began to pull away from the peloton, Tim Tramnitz tried to attack Nikita Bedrin for fourth place, but to no avail. In turn 9, after a slight contact with the wheels, Nikola Tsolov and Callum Voisin flew off the track and got stuck in the wet grass, so the safety car returned to the track.
The restart was given on the sixth lap. The Camara made a confident start again and began to pull away from the peloton from the first corners. In the first corner, Santiago Ramos drove slightly off the track, got into a large puddle and almost lost control of the car. He continued the race, but dropped back from 12th to 18th place.
On lap eight, Martinius Stenshorn overtook Hugo Ugochukwa in the fight for eighth place. On the same lap, Camara scored the best lap, bringing the lead over Stromsted to four seconds. On the ninth lap, Ugochukwu dropped back to tenth place, passing Roman Bilinsky. Mathias Zagazeta received a 10-second penalty for pushing Alessandro Giusti off the track at turn 13.
By the twelfth lap, the peloton had stretched, and the tightest fight was for seventh place between Intrafuvasak, Stenshorn and Bilinsky.
On lap thirteen, Christian Ho seriously crashed the car, losing control on the curb at the exit of turn six. The driver left the cockpit on his own, and the safety car returned to the track.
On lap 18, due to increased rain, the race was stopped with red flags, and the peloton returned to the pit lane. The distance covered was enough to earn full points, and a few minutes after the red flags appeared, it was announced that the race would not resume.
Thus, Rafael Camara, a member of the Ferrari Racing Academy, won his debut weekend in Formula 3. His partner and Mercedes youth program participant Noah Stromsted brought the Trident team a winning double. For him, the podium was the first in Formula 3, as well as for Theophile Nahel.
Nikita Bedrin finished fourth, and the top seven at the start retained their positions at the finish.
The second stage of the Formula 3 season will be held in Bahrain on April 11-13.
Pilot
The Time Team
Difference
Circles
1. R.Kamara
Trident
34'43.966
-
16
2. N.Stromsted
Trident
34'44.483
0.517
16
3. T.Nael
Van Amersfoort Racing
34'45.118
1.152
16
4. N.Bedrin
AIX Racing
34'45.697
1.731
16
5. T.Tramnitz
MP Motorsport
34'46.264
2.298
16
6. H.Wurz
Trident
34'47.219
3.253
16
7. T.Intrafuvasak
Campos Racing
34'47.699
3.733
16
8. M.Stenshorn
Hitech TGR
34'48.889
4.923
16
9. R.Bilinsky
Rodin Motorsport
34'49.617
5.651
16
10. U.Ugochukwu
Prema Racing
34'51.159
7.193
16
11. D.Dufek
Hitech TGR
34'52.313
8.347
16
12. L. van Hoepen
ART Grand Prix
34'52.784
8.818
16
13. N.Leon
Prema Racing
34'53.928
9.962
16
14. L. Sharpe
Rodin Motorsport
34'55.637
11.671
16
15. X.Sagrera
AIX Racing
34'56.771
12.805
16
16. S.Ramos
Van Amersfoort Racing
34'57.833
13.867
16
17.
M.de Campos Racing
34'59.150
15.184
16
18. J.Si
Hitech TGR
35'00.705
16.739
16
19. I. Dominguez
Van Amersfoort Racing
35'02.892
18.926
16
20. T.Taponen
ART Grand Prix
35'03.242
19.276
16
21. D.Wharton
ART Grand Prix
35'04.263
20.297
16
22. M.Zagazeta
DAMS Lucas Oil
35'05.265
21.299
16
23. B.del Pino
MP Motorsport
35'05.346
21.380
16
24. N. Lacorte
DAMS Lucas Oil
35'06.218
22.252
16
25. A.Giusti
MP Motorsport
35'06.986
23.020
16
26. B.Badoer
Prema Racing
35'07.614
23.648
16
27. N. Marinangeli
AIX Racing
35'09.045
25.079
16
- K.Ho
DAMS Lucas Oil
25'01.767
Meeting
12
- N.Tsolov
Campos Racing
-
Descent
0
-. K.Voisin
Rodin Motorsport
-
Exit
0
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