Arvid Lindblad became the first repeat winner in Formula 3 this season as he claimed the Feature Race win at the Spanish Grand Prix to bolster his championship bid.
Lindblad dominated the race as cars behind struggled with degradation when rainfall arrived in the latter laps, opening up a seven-second lead over Christian Mansell.
Mansell lined up on pole position and held that advantage on the long run down to Turn 1 as the leading quartet on the grid remained unchanged on the opening tour.
Oliver Goethe was the main loser at the start as he dropped two positions to seventh and was 4.5 seconds back from the leaders, as Luke Browning moved into third.
Mansell’s hold on the race lead would not last long, though, as Lindblad used DRS down the start-finish straight to swoop around his rival’s outside at Turn 1 on Lap 5.
Like in the earlier races in the weekend across the feeder series ladder, track limits were set to provide a contentious talking point and Mansell was warned over radio.
Charlie Wurz completed an excellent overtake around Joseph Loake’s outside exiting Turn 1 on Lap 10, making the Rodin Motorsport driver vulnerable to cars behind.
Loake then came under pressure from Sophia Floersch, with the Alpine-affiliated racer aiming to climb through the grid to find a path into the points-scoring positions.
Back at the sharp end, Browning was striving to move to second to give Lindbland a run, but Mansell was hit with an early penalty due to several track limit violations.
Mansell was continuing to struggle with degradation and slipped more than a second behind race leader Lindbland, which meant that he no longer had DRS to utilise.
Amid her battle with Loake, Floersch lost track position to fellow Alpine member Gabriele Mini as he snatched the place going around the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 12.
Hoping to secure vital points to take over the lead in the F3 Drivers’ Championship, passing Mansell would be crucial for Browning in the Hitech Pulse Eight machine.
Goethe made a pass around Laurens Van Hoepen’s outside to regain one position on Lap 14, climbing back up to sixth, as Sami Meguetonif snatched 15th from Mini.
As drivers across the pack struggled with degradation in the cooler morning temperature, raindrops began to fall in the third sector as the field passed on into Lap 15.
Loake and Jenzer Motorsport driver Max Esterson swapped places going into Turn 4 on Lap 15 as the rainfall increased, while Mini’s plight continued as he was 17th.
At the front of the pack, Lindblad was now more than three seconds clear of Mansell in second as the top three drivers began to extend their advantage over the rest.
Browning held a 1.8s advantage over fourth-placed Nikola Tsolov as caution periods emerged with drivers continuing to struggle with cooler rubber in the light rainfall.
Sebastian Montoya was striving to make amends from 27th place on the grid and he rose to 16th as he overhauled Callum Voisin’s Rodin car into Turn 10 on Lap 18.
Mini’s tumble was still ongoing as he dropped to 21st, while another Alpine representative in Tsolov also lost out as Fornaroli went to his outside at Turn 4 on Lap 22.
Van Hoepen then picked up an unfortunate and crucial puncture in a fight for a place in the points positions, meaning he would not be involved in the closing stages.
Fornaroli’s charge to earn a podium was successful as he took third from Browning at Turn 4, as Martinius Stenshorne also picked up a puncture to squander points.
Lindblad reached the chequered flag to claim his second win this season in the 100th race in the F3 era, with Mansell and Fornaroli completing the podium positions.
Goethe finished the race in fourth as Browning lost another position in the closing stages to come home in fifth, with Tsolov adding to his points total with sixth spot.
MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne secured seventh, with Mari Boya in eighth for Campos. Prema’s Dino Beganovic and Van Amersfoort’s Noel Leon rounded out the top 10.
