Bruno Del Pino claimed his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in Melbourne Sprint Race ahead of his Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Enzo Delingy and Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer.
The race was Red Flagged and then called early following a collision between PREMA Racing teammates James Wharton and Louis Sharp.
Following the race, the Stewards heard from both drivers and team representatives and examined available video evidence.
They determined that Sharp had been wholly at fault for the collision.
As a result, the handed the New Zealander a 10-second time penalty. With the penalty applied, Sharp falls to 16th.
AS IT HAPPENED
It was a great start for the all-Van Amersfoort front row, with Del Pino keeping the lead ahead of Deligny, while Badoer got ahead of Noah Stromsted to take P3 at Turn 1.
It was a bad start for the home favourite Wharton, however, as having started fifth, he was down to P8 by the end of the first lap. The PREMA Racing driver ran deep into the first corner after trying to avoid colliding with the rear of Stromsted’s car.
On to Lap 2, Mattia Colnaghi ran wide and into to the gravel at the exit of Turn 12. The MP Motorsport driver had been battling with Maciej Gladysz for P6, but was now at the back of the field after returning to the track.
By the start of Lap 6, Del Pino had built a 1.3s led over Deligny, who was coming under pressure from Badoer and Stromsted. The top four had built a nice buffer and were two seconds clear of Taito Kato in P5.
Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu then went around the outside of Nicola Lacorte at Turn 9 to move up to ninth.
Just ahead of Ugochukwu, Wharton and Louis Sharp went wheel-to-wheel throughout the opening sector on Lap 8, but made contact at the entry to Turn 6, which sent them both into the barrier.
With both the cars and the track needing to be cleared and the barriers having to be repaired, the Red Flags were waved, before the Stewards later confirmed that the race would not be resumed.
This gave VAR their second consecutive victory in the Melbourne Sprint Race with Del Pino winning ahead of Deligny, while Badoer took a maiden podium in third.
As a result of more than 25% of the racing laps having been completed, only the top five are awarded points, leaving Stromsted in P4 and Kato in P5 as the only other point scorers.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Bruno del Pino leads the Standings going into the Feature Race with five points, ahead of VAR teammate Enzo Deligny on four. Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer is on three points, ahead of TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted with two and ART Grand Prix rookie Taito Kato with one.
In the Teams’ Championship, Van Amersfoort Racing lead the way with nine points, ahead of Rodin Motorsport with three. TRIDENT is up and running with two points in third, with ART Grand Prix in fourth on one.
UP NEXT
The drivers will get another chance to go racing in Melbourne in Sunday’s Feature Race which is set to start at 08:50 local time.
Race results – provisional
1/ Bruno Del Pino ESP Van Amersfoort Racing
2/ Enzo Deligny FRA Van Amersfoort Racing
3/ Brando Badoer ITA Rodin Motorsport
4/ Noah Stromsted DEN TRIDENT
5/ Taito Kato JPN ART Grand Prix
6/ Maciej Gladysz POL ART Grand Prix
7/ James Wharton AUS PREMA Racing
8/ Louis Sharp NZL PREMA Racing
9/ Ugo Ugochukwu USA Campos Racing
10/ Freddie Slater GBR TRIDENT
11/ Theophile Nael FRA Campos Racing
12/ Nicola Lacorte ITA DAMS Lucas Oil
13/ Tuukka Taponen FIN MP Motorsport
14/ Jin Nakamura JPN Hitech
15/ Pedro Clerot BRA Rodin Motorsport
16/ Fionn Mclaughlin IRL Hitech
17/ Brad Benavides USA AIX Racing
18/ Christian Ho SGP Rodin Motorsport
19/ Gerrard Xie CHN DAMS Lucas Oil
20/ Hiyu Yamakoshi JPN Van Amersfoort Racing
21/ Alessandro Giusti FRA MP Motorsport
22/ Yevan David SRI AIX Racing
23/ Patrick Heuzenroeder AUS Campos Racing
24/ Jose Garfias MEX PREMA Racing
25/ Woohyun Shin KOR Hitech
26/ Matteo De Palo ITA TRIDENT
27/ Fernando Barrichello BRA AIX Racing
28/ Kanato Le JPN ART Grand Prix
29/ Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi THA DAMS Lucas Oil
30/ Mattia Colnaghi ARG MP Motorsport
OVERALL FASTEST LAP – Louis Sharp NZL PREMA Racing 1:37.955 (Lap 4)
OVERALL FASTEST LAP FOR POINTS – Louis Sharp NZL PREMA Racing 1:37.955 (Lap 4)
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