Day 2-
Polesitter Kacper Sztuka had Leon tucked intot he slipstream from lights out and with the tow, the Mexican rounded the MP rookie to take the lead into the first chicane.
Tramnitz followed through on his teammate to take second place before Goethe then moved himself up to third, having started sixth on the grid.
Contact for Campos’ Mari Boya left the Spaniard spinning at Turn 6 and in the gravel. That brought out the Safety Car before the opening lap was even completed.
Leon led the restart entering lap 4, with a comfortable buffer over Tramnitz in second and the VAR driver’s lead was 1.2s after the first lap under racing conditions.
The Safety Car came back out on lap 5, after Callum Voisin found the barriers on the exit of Turn 7.
Contact with the Jenzer Motorsport car belonging to Charlie Wurz bounced the Rodin Motorsport driver wide and then into the wall.
Leon didn’t get the same launch as first time around as racing got back underway on lap 8, but despite his best efforts, Tramnitz couldn’t find room to pass into the first chicane.
Further back, Sami Meguetounif went spinning into the gravel after the slightest of touches with the rear of Dino Beganovic’s PREMA ahead of him into Turn 2.
The Trident driver was left beached in the gravel and out of the race, requiring another Safety Car.
Gabriele Mini had been tucked up behind the ART Grand Prix car of Laurens van Hoepen, but the Italian driver finally cleared him into Turns 5 & 6 with a brave pass into the chicane.
There was a fourth Safety Car deployed on lap 13, but it was quickly withdrawn, and racing resumed on lap 15.
Once again, Leon managed the restart perfectly to keep hold of the lead as the top three broke clear of the chasing pack.
Beganovic was able to pass Sztuka for fourth with two laps to go, as the Swede made his way by the MP rookie into the first chicane. Browning tried to follow the PREMA through but suffered contact with the Polish driver that broke his front wing and left him in the gravel at Turn 7.
The brief Virtual Safety car which was withdrawn on the final lap allowed Goethe to catch Leon unaware and take the lead out of Turn 15. The German led through the final corners to earn the Imola Sprint victory.
The full top 10 are- P1: Goethe, P2: Tramnitz, P3: Leon, P4: Beganoivc, P5: Sztuka, P6: Mini, P7: van Hoepen, P8: Lindblad, P9: Bedrin and P10: Ramos.
Day 3-
Santiago Ramos perfected his start and led the trio of Tridents flying in formation to the first chicane, Fornaroli and Meguetounif with tows close behind.
Sprint race winner, Oliver Goethe was following the Prema of Arvid Lindblad in the battle for fourth after climbing up three spots on the opening lap. The Campos driver was able to find a route through on the second lap to take P4 from the Briton.
Onto Lap 3 and Fornaroli had the tow with DRS to sweep into the lead of the race into the first chicane.
Further back, Goethe took third from Meguetounif while Luke Browning made a move on the Prema of Dino Beganovic into the same corner.
With DRS, Goethe was by the pole sitter Ramos at Turn 2 on lap 5, brave on the brakes to sweep around the outside of the Mexican for P2.
One lap later and the Red Bull Junior had the lead of the race after an issue for Fornaroli on the main straight put him down to fifth position.
Trident teammates Ramos and Meguetounif were in battle on lap 12 as the Frenchman cleared taking second position into Turn 2. Goethe meanwhile had built up his advantage in the lead and was ahead by 2.5s at the halfway point.
Fornaroli’s fightback continued at the expense of Ramos on lap 14, clearing his teammate to take third. Browning moved ahead of the Mexican driver on the next lap to move himself into P4 to keep title rival Fornaroli in sight.
Up ahead, Meguetounif had slowly closed down the gap on race leader Geothe and moved to within DRS range going into lap 17, just 0.7s behind across the line.
With five laps to go, the Frenchman rounded the Campos driver to take the lead at the first chicane, though Fornaroli was catching the pair with a lap over a second quicker that the top two.
The Italian was into DRS range of Goethe on lap 19 but couldn’t find a way to pass the Campos driver before the end.
This left Meguetounif to take his maiden Formula 3 race win on Trident home soil ahead of Goethe and Fornaroli.
The full top 10 are- P1: Meguetounif, P2: Goethe, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Browning, P5: Beganovic, P6: Mini, P7: Lindblad, P8: Ramos, P9: Boya and P10: Montoya.
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