Day 2-
It was an all-PREMA front row with Beganovic on pole, though it was teammate Mini who made the better start to take the lead into Turn 1.
Just behind them, Tim Tramnitz had gotten ahead of Santiago Ramos for P3, while Arvid Lindblad made a fast start from P27 and was already up to 16th by the end of Lap 1.
But a Safety Car was required with Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson having slowly spun into the barrier at Eau Rouge. The American driver was okay, and the field were back racing at the end of Lap 3.
The battles were well and truly on as Beganovic got ahead of Mini at the end of the Kemmel Straight just after the restart, while Leon took back the P5 spot he had lost to Luke Browning.
Lap 5 and Tramnitz was coming under pressure from Ramos and Leon and while he was able to hold on to P3, Browning was struggling and lost sixth position to Sebastian Montoya having ran wide at Turn 4.
The top six from Beganovic to Montoya were covered by just two and a half seconds as they started lap 9 of 12, with Mini told by his race engineer to keep the pressure on his teammate.
But making the moves was Leon as he got ahead of Ramos for P4 at the end of the Kemmel Straight, with Lindblad now up to 12th after getting past Rodin Motorsport’s Joseph Loake.
DRS had now been made available, as Mini came under pressure from Tramnitz for second. He was able to hold off the MP driver but as they squabbled, it meant Beganovic was able to pull out a one second gap.
As they started the penultimate lap of the race, Mini had closed back in on Beganovic while Tramnitz had fallen into the clutches of Leon.
This was playing into the hands of Meguetounif, Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli in seventh, eighth and ninth place, as they close up to the top six.
The final lap started, with Beganovic and Mini having pulled out a two second gap to the rest of the field. But in the battle for the final podium place Leon got ahead of Tramnitz at the Kemmel Straight.
The full top 10 are- P1: Beganovic, P2: Mini, P3: Leon, P4: Tramnitz, P5: Ramos, P6: Browning P7: Montoya, P8: Fornaroli, P9: Goethe and P10: Voisin.
Day 3-
It was a great start from pole-sitter Voisin as he kept hold of the lead, but the big gainer was Montoya as he was up to second from fourth.
Front row starter Alexander Dunne had a slow start and dropped to fourth while Fornaroli maintained third place.
But behind them, there was a huge moment in the title race as Gabriele Mini fell to the back of the field following a collision with Oliver Goethe. The contact left the PREMA Racing driver turned around at the back of the field, while the Campos was forced to pit with a puncture.
As they started lap 2, Voisin locked up heading into Turn 1, with both Montoya and Fornaroli right on the back of his Rodin car. He was able to keep the position, but Noel Leon could not do the same, losing P5 to Sami Meguetounif down the Kemmel Straight.
The Safety Car was then required on Lap 3 when Martinius Stenshorne spun at Stavelot. ART Grand Pric debutant Tuukka Taponen was having his own separate incident coming into the corner as he collided with Joshua Dufek before spinning into the side of the Hitech.
We were back racing on Lap 7 and Voisin had a great restart ahead of Montoya and Fornaroli, while Meguetounif’s charge continued as he overtook Dunne for fourth down the Kemmel Straight.
But another Safety Car was soon deployed after Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake collided and spun off at Turn 9.
The race restarted on Lap 10 of 15 and once again Voisin had a good start, but Dunne was struggling once more, dropping from P5 to P10.
A third Safety Car was needed after Christian Mansell hit the rear of Arvid Lindblad, sending the PREMA Racing driver into the gravel at Turn 9.
At the same time, Charlie Wurz touched the rear right tyre of Mari Boya, giving the Campos Racing driver a puncture, before he went into the barrier at Turn 11. The Austrian was then forced to come into the pit lane to replace a damaged front wing.
Voisin led the pack away on Lap 14 as we returned to green flag conditions, with Montoya and Fornaroli staying behind him. However, Leon dived down the inside of Meguetounif into Turn 7 to take back P4.
Onto the final lap and Voisin had built up a lead of nearly one second as he crossed the line to take the victory, with Montoya in second, while Fornaroli finished third to take the lead of the Drivers’ Championship.
The full top 10 are- P1: Voisin, P2: Montoya, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Leon, P5: Meguetounif, P6: Browning, P7: Esterson, P8: Ramos, P9: Tramnitz and P10: Dunne.
Even without scoring, the result means PREMA Racing take an unassailable lead into the final round in Monza, making them the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Team Champions.
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