F3 – Bahrain – Day 2 & 3

Day 2-

It was a terrific start for the pole-sitter Joshua Dufek who kept a hold of the lead, but AIX’s Slater got ahead of Martinius Stenshorne for P2 at Turn 4 after starting third.

Behind them, Tsolov got ahead of Alessandro Giusti for P4, while Championship leader Rafael Camara had a slow start from P12 and dropped to the back of the field.

Onto lap 2, Slater closed in on Dufek before making a move for the lead at Turn 1.
Behind them, Tsolov continued his fine start, overtaking Stenshorne for third at the same corner.

The Safety Car was called upon at the start of Lap 4, PREMA Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu stopped at Turn 2 after colliding with his teammate Brando Badoer, who pitted with a puncture.

Racing then resumed on lap 7 and Tsolov was flying once again, diving to the inside of Dufek for P2 at Turn 1.
The battles intensified on lap 9 as Tsolov again dived to the inside at Turn 1, this time on Slater for the race lead. However, the Campos driver went in too deep allowing the Briton to retake the lead.

Just behind the pair, the battle for P3 was heating up as Dufek, Stenshorne and Taponen almost went three-wide into Turn 4.
The latter two eventually made their way past at Turn 10 and 11, with Giusti following them through a few corners later at Turn 1.

Further up the road, Slater and Tsolov were going wheel to wheel once more.
The Bulgarian dived down the AIX driver at Turns 4 and 8, but on both occasions, the debutant retook the lead.

However, Tsolov eventually made a move stick with the help of DRS and dived down the inside at Turn 1 again. Behind them, Taponen was now ahead of Stenshorne for P3.

At the start of lap 13 of 19, the top three had begun to separate themselves out in front, while Stenshorne was coming under attack from Giusti and Callum Voisin for P4.

Giusti then went side by side with Stenshorne into Turn 6 and 7, but the MP Motorsport driver had the door closed, putting him into the clutches of Voisin, who made a move past at Turn 11.

On lap 15 of 19, the Safety Car was called upon, with Dufek and Ivan Domingues colliding at Turn 1, causing both drivers to stop by the side of the road.

We returned to green flag conditions at the start of Lap 18, and Slater was right on the back of Tsolov, but the Campos driver resisted all his overtaking attempts.
Onto the final lap, Taponen looked to make a move on Slater into Turn 1 but could not make it stick. Tsolov though was able to pull away out in front and went on to claim a record-equalling fourth victory in FIA Formula 3.

The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Slater, P3: Taponen, P4: Voisin, P5: Stenshorne, P6: Tramnitz, P7: Giusti, P8: Ho, P9: Wurz and P10: Stromsted.

Day 3-

It was a great start for Voisin who got ahead of Camara on the brakes at Turn 1, while Charlie Wurz kept a hold of third ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho.

Tuukka Taponen was also on the move for ART Grand Prix. From sixth, he got ahead of Bruno del Pino at the start, before overtaking Ho for fourth into Turn 4 on Lap 2.

Onto Lap 3, Camara and Wurz had closed in on the back of Voisin, with the former using DRS to get ahead into Turn 1. However, the Rodin driver’s switchback move got him back ahead at Turn 4.

Camara eventually got ahead on Lap 5, making the same move on Voisin at Turn 1, the Brit unable to get ahead at Turn 4 this time despite his attempts to do so.
Wurz and Taponen were now battling for P3, allowing Voisin and Camara to disappear up the road.

Further behind, Alessandro Giusti got himself ahead of Noel Leon for P11 at the same corner. He made a similar move at Turn 1 on the following lap on another PREMA Racing driver, Brando Badoer for P10.

Trident then came on the radio to tell Wurz to stay with Taponen, but at the same time, his teammate Noah Stromsted was coming under threat from Ho and Tramnitz for P5.

The Dane fended off Ho, before the DAMS driver ran wide at Turn 2. This opened the door for Tramnitz to get ahead on the run to Turn 4. On the next lap, the Singaporean lost another position to Nikola Tsolov at the next corner.

Another driver showing tremendous pace was Mari Boya. The Campos driver overtook Badoer for P11 after starting the race down in 20th.
Tramnitz and Tsolov then got ahead of Stromsted for fifth and sixth, while Giusti overtook his MP teammate del Pino for P9.

As lap 14 of 22 started, Camara was three and a half seconds clear of Voisin, who was 2.4s in front of Taponen. A DRS train had now formed behind the ART driver, with Wurz, Tramnitz, Tsolov and Stromsted all in the fight for the podium.

After trying for several laps to get ahead of Wurz, Tramnitz eventually got ahead of the Trident driver by going round the outside at Turn 4 on Lap 17.

Taponen had been able to pull out a one second advantage due to the fighting behind him, but Tramnitz closed the gap before pulling off another move round the outside at Turn 4 on lap 19 for third.

Wurz had now dropped to P6 after being overtaken by Tsolov, and was coming under attack from his teammate, Stromsted.

Out in front though, Camara was over six seconds clear across the line as he went on to win his second feature race of the season. Voisin finished in P2 and Tramnitz ended up third for MP.

The full top 10 are- P1: Camara, P2: Voisin, P3: Tramnitz, P4: Taponen, P5: Tsolov, P6: Stromsted, P7: Giusti, P8: Boya, P9: Del Pino and P10: Ho.

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