F3: Nikola Tsolov wins Bahrain Sprint
The victory of Campos Racing driver Nikola Tsolov ended Saturday's Formula 3 sprint in Bahrain. Freddie Slater and Tuukka Taponen joined him on the podium.
Pole holder Joshua Dufek retained the lead at the start. Debutant Freddie Slater, who replaced Nikita Bedrin in the AIX Racing team on the first stage, successfully overtook Martinius Stenshorn in the fourth corner and rose from third to second place.
Championship leader Rafael Camara made an extremely unsuccessful start to the race, almost stalling at the start and falling back to last place. Tuukka Taponen made a good start, rising from seventh to fifth place.
On the second lap of nineteen, Slater showed the best time, and at the beginning of the third lap he attacked Dufek. The maneuver in the first corner turned out to be clean, and Freddie took the lead in the race. Nikola Tsolov overtook Stenshorn in the fight for third place.
On the fourth lap, yellow flags appeared and a safety car pulled onto the track. The reason was Hugo Ugochukwu's stop in the third corner after colliding with his Prema teammate Brando Badoer. Badoer went to the pits with a puncture to get new tires, and for Ugochukwu, the race ended due to a broken suspension.
The safety car left the track at the end of the sixth lap. At the restart, Slater retained the lead, and Tsolov attacked Dufek in the first corner and rose to second place.
On lap eight, Taponen attacked Stenshorn in the fourth corner to fight for fourth place, but the Hitech rider defended himself harshly and pushed Tuukka off the track.
On lap nine, Tsolov tried to overtake Slater on braking in the first corner, but braked, and Freddie crossed the path at the exit of the first corner and remained the leader. Behind the leaders, Dufek slipped from third to fifth place, passing Stenshorn and Taponen in turn.
On lap ten, Tsolov made another attempt to take the lead, this time in turn eight, and once again Slater beat off the attack. However, on the eleventh lap in the first corner, Tsolov was able to take the lead. Slater tried to counterattack in the fourth, but to no avail.
Behind Dufek, he missed several more competitors and dropped back to eighth place, while Stenshorn passed Taponen to third to avoid a penalty for pushing an opponent off the track on lap eight.
On lap 15, Dufek and Ivan Dominguez collided in the first corner after a bad attack from the Van Amersfoort Racing driver. For both of them, the race ended, and the safety car entered the track for the second time.
The restart was given on the eighteenth lap. Slater tried to attack Tsolov – the fight went on for almost the entire lap, and only in turn 11 Tsolov was able to pull away from his opponent a little.
In the first corner, on the last lap, Taponen tried to attack Slater, but Tuukka was not close enough for the maneuver to end with overtaking. Behind them, Callum Voisin was able to overtake Stenshorn in the fight for fourth place.
Slater tried to make an attack in the last corner, but Nikola Tsolov was not mistaken and brought the race to its first victory of the season. Freddie Slater reached the podium in his first Formula 3 race. Tuukki Taponen's third place was the best result in his still short career in Formula 3.
Rafael Camara finished twelfth and retained the lead in the individual competition. Theophile Nahel, who took second place, retired from the race, and Noah Stromsted earned one point for tenth place and equaled Nahel.
Pilot
Team
Circles
1. N. Tsolov
Campos Racing
19
2. F.Slater
AIX Racing
19
3. T.Taponen
ART Grand Prix
19
4. K.Voisin
Rodin Motorsport
19
5. M.Stenshorn
Hitech TGR
19
6. T.Tramnitz
MP Motorsport
19
7. A.Giusti
MP Motorsport
19
8. K.Ho
DAMS Lucas Oil
19
9. Ch.Wurz
Trident
19
10. N. Stromsted
Trident
19
11. N.Leon
Prema Racing
19
12. R.Kamara
Trident
19
13. D. Wharton
ART Grand Prix
19
14. L. Sharpe
Rodin Motorsport
19
15.
M.de Campos Racing
19
16. L. van Hoepen
ART Grand Prix
19
17. M.Zagazeta
DAMS Lucas Oil
19
18. T.Intrafuvasak
Campos Racing
19
19. B.del Pino
MP Motorsport
19
20. R.Bilinsky
Rodin Motorsport
19
21. J.Si
Hitech TGR
19
22. B.Badoer
Prema Racing
19
23. X.Sagrera
AIX Racing
19
- D.Dufek
Hitech TGR
14
- I. Dominguez
Van Amersfoort Racing
14
-. S.Ramos
Van Amersfoort Racing
13
- N.Lacorte
DAMS Lucas Oil
12
-. T.Nael
Van Amersfoort Racing
11
- U.Ugochukwu
Prema Racing
03
- N.Marinangeli
AIX Racing
02
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