Day 3-
It was a fast start from second for Stenshorne, but pole-sitter Alessandro Giusti had a slow getaway and dropped to fourth before reaching Turn 1.
Taponen was one of the beneficiaries of Giusti’s start as the ART driver went up to P2 ahead of his teammate van Hopen.
However, the Safety Car was deployed at the end of the opening lap as James Hedley, Nicola Lacorte, Santiago Ramos and Ivan Domingues collided at Turn 8, with all four drivers’ cars needing to be cleared up.
In a separate incident, Noel Leon and Callum Voisin made contact, forcing the PREMA Racing driver to stop on track with damage.
Back to racing conditions, Stenshorne was showing good pace out in front and had pulled out a one second gap to Taponen by the start of Lap 10, the rookie now coming under threat from van Hoepen.
Onto Lap 12, and the Norwegian’s lead was over 2.1s, while van Hoepen was less than two-tenths away from Taponen.
However, by the end of the lap, the Finn driver reduced the gap to just 0.6s, while Charlie Wurz, in sixth, was now under pressure from his Trident teammate Rafael Camara.
Behind them, Mari Boya was under attack from Voisin, with his Rodin Motorsport teammates Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski keeping a close eye on their battle.
Lap 15 of 23, Noah Stromsted reported a puncture after colliding with Brad Benavides. The damage forced the Trident rookie to retire after recovering to the pit lane.
Out in front, Stenshorne had built his lead back up to 1.3s clear by the end of Lap 17, with van Hoepen and Giusti right on the back of Taponen once again.
Onto the penultimate lap and Boya was having to hold off the Rodin trio for P8. Voisin then hit the rear of the Spaniard at the Nouvelle Chicane, causing him to have a slow exit, which allowed teammate Sharp to take ninth from him.
Back at the front, Stenshorne stormed off to win by 2.2s from Taponen, as van Hoepen rounded out the top three to achieve his first podium since the same race in 2024.
The full top 10 are- P1: Stenshorne, P2: Taponen, P3: van Hoepen, P4: Giusti, P5: Tramnitz, P6: Wurz, P7: Camara, P8: Boya, P9: Sharp and P10: Voisin.
Day 4-
It was a strong start for Tsolov, who got away well at lights out to keep the lead, but behind him the battle for a place in the top three got off to a fast start.
Bilinski immediately covered off Boya, but the Rodin driver was coming under attack from the Spaniard and his teammate Callum Voisin.
The Polish driver was able to keep the position, but Voisin then had a look to the inside of Boya at Turn 4, although the Campos #10 was able to shut the door.
The race settled down at the start of Lap 6, with Boya right on the back of Bilinski, just three-tenths separating the pair.
Behind them though and having overtaken Neol Leon at the start to go to fifth, Tim Tramnitz was closing in on the back of Vousun, who was also chasing down Boya for P3.
Lap 10 of 27 and Bilinski, having set the fastest lap on the previous tour, was within DRS range of Tsolov and built a 2.3s clear of Boya in third.
Tsolov fought back on the next lap though, and by lap 13, the Campos driver had built his lead back up to two seconds.
Tsolov now 7.5s clear of Bilinski was the only driver in the top 10 lapping in the 1:26s. However, the Bulgarian’s big lead was taken away after the Safety Car was deployed on Lap 19, following Leon’s collision with the barrier at Portier.
His PREMA car was cleared and racing resumed on Lap 20, but there was a problem for Charlie Wurz. In P6, the Australian was running with a broken front wing.
Laurens van Hoepen made his way through at Tabac, but on the next lap, Wurz found the barrier Massanet, releasing the drivers behind him.
The Safety Car was soon out on track again with PREMA’s Brando Badoer stopped at Portier after a tangle with Nicola Marinangeli. The AIX driver was given a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.
The action resumed on Lap 24 of 27 and it was more bad news for Trident, as Rafael Camara lost the rear right wheel on track, forcing him to retire from the race.
Out in front, Tsolov had marched off into the distance once more and was three seconds clear of Bilinski at the start of Lap 26.
Onto the final lap, and Voisin was fighting hard to get ahead of Boya, even brushing the barrier at Turn 1. Tsolov though had marched off into the distance and crossed the line to win for the fifth time in Formula 3.
The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Bilinski, P3: Boya, P4: Voisin, P5: Tramnitz, P6: van Hopen, P7: Taponen, P8: Stenshorne, P9: Sharp and P10: Giusti.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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