Spanish driver Pepe Martí was untouchable in the Formula 3 Feature Race, as the Spanish driver representing the Spanish Campos team took victory on home soil in Barcelona, his third victory and first Feature Race win of the season.
The top five had a clean getaway, as Jenzer’s Taylor Barnard briefly managed to put pressure on pole sitter Martí, while slightly further down, yesterday’s podium sitter Luke Browning came together with Leonardo Fornaroli, leaving Browning unable to continue and dropping down Fornaroli.
The incident resulted in the Safety Car coming out to clear the stricken Hitech.
The top four had remained as they’d started, with Martí leading Barnard, Franco Colapinto and Dino Beganovic, while Paul Aron lost a position to championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, as Sebastian Montoya lost a position to Mari Boya.
The Safety Car came back in on lap six, allowing Martí to lead the field away, with the Spaniard getting a good restart.
The top eight remained the same after the restart, with pressure on all drivers rising, leaving the entire top 13 within DRS detection.
Fornaroli, who had dropped all the way down the field after his incident with Browning spent the laps after the restart fighting his way back up, while further up, Gabriele Miní, who so far had a weekend to forget following a tough qualifying and a late race penalty, also climbed his way up. The Italian driver received a penalty for track limits after leaving the track too often.
Towards the back, Carlin’s Hunter Yeany and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez came together, resulting in a retirement for the Carlin.
Barnard quickly became a sitting duck in the DRS zones, with Colapinto overtaking him for second and losing another position to the Prema of Beganovic a lap later, dropping him out of the podium positions and into DRS range of Bortoleto.
Martí and Colapinto managed to break away from the pack, with Beganovic over three seconds behind the MP car of Colapinto with ten laps to go.
Bortoleto sweeped around Barnard on lap 17, with Aron quickly following, dropping Barnard down to sixth.
Barnard’s race fell apart further as he went wide coming out of turn 14, leaving the door open for Boya, while Montoya, who was right behind, failed to capitalize on the Briton’s mistake and was overtaken by Oliver Goethe.
Montoya retook the position, as Goethe dropped down further after being overtaken by yesterday’s race winner Zak O’Sullivan, while the ART of Gregoire Saucy picked up a puncture in the pack.
Montoya finally managed to get past the Jenzer of Barnard three laps from the finish, as the Briton fell down to eighth, ahead of the Prema of O’Sullivan, who made up the position the following lap.
Martí proved himself untouchable on home soil, however, as the Spanish driver won both his and his team’s home race, over four seconds clear of Colapinto in second and ten seconds ahead of Beganovic.
Bortoleto finished fourth, followed by Aron, Boya, Montoya and O’Sullivan, while Barnard managed to hold onto ninth, and Christian Mansell took the final point,
