The Campos Racing driver Nikola Tsolov took a record-breaking fourth Formula 3 race victory after holding off AIX Racing’s Freddie Slater on his debut in Bahrain.
Slater took the lead of the Sprint early on before the Bulgarian racing driver found his way past.
Tsolov remained calm and his experience shone through as he defended his position to the chequered flag for the race victory.
ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen completed the top three in an enthralling Sprint.
Trident’s Rafael Camara started from 12th after securing back-to-back pole positions for the Feature Race but stalled on the grid before finishing in 15th place.
The Brazillian converted his first pole into a maiden race victory in the tricky conditions at Albert Park.
The Hitech duo of Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Dufek, who qualified 11th and 12th, respectively, lined up from the front of the grid for the Sprint Race.
On his F3 debut, Slater qualified in 10th to start the Sprint from third place.
Tsolov denies Slater a maiden victory in Bahrain
Bruno del Pino was forced to start the race from the pit lane as he was noted for a race start infringement – the Spaniard was set to start the Sprint from eighth place.
At the race start, Sunday’s polesitter Camara stalled his car as the rest of the grid made their way past the championship leader.
Into Turn 1, Dufek held onto his lead ahead of Stenshorne and Slater.
Alessandro Giusti in the MP Motorsport car dropped down the order to seventh, promoting Tsolov, Trident’s Noah Strømsted, as well as Taponen, up one place.
Slater was keen to make an impression, and into Turn 4, he made a move around the outside of Stenshorne to take second place.
Two laps later, the debutant made a pass for the lead into Turn 1, snatching the lead from Dufek.
Contact further down the order brought out the Safety Car on the next lap, with Prema Racing team-mates Brando Badoer and Ugo Ugochukwu coming together, the latter forced to retire from the race.
Campos’ Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak suffered damage and was also forced to pit as the racing restarted on Lap 7.
Tsolov made a great start and moved up two places into second as the Hitech duo slipped down to third and fourth.
On Lap 9, he made a move for the lead into Turn 1, but he went too deep, allowing Slater to regain the lead.
Meanwhile, Taponen applied pressure to the Hitech drivers into Turn 4 but couldn’t find a way past.
Stenshorne passed his team-mate into Turn 11 later on in the lap as Dufek eventually dropped down the order and out of the points.
On Lap 10, Tsolov made another move for the lead into Turn 4 and Turn 8, but the 16-year-old race leader defended superbly.
However, he lost his lead on the following lap as Tsolov was closer heading into Turn 1.
Slater tried to retake the lead into Turn 4, but the Campos driver held on.
Theophile Nael, Nicola Lacorte and Santiago Ramos all retired and just 26 drivers were left in the Sprint.
Heading into Lap 15, Taponen closed in on the front pack after passing Stenshorne, as a three-way battle for the lead emerged.
On the same lap, the Sprint Race polesitter Dufek came to a stop, as well as the last remaining Van Amersfoort Racing competitor Ivan Domingues.
The Safety Car returned to the track to remove the stricken cars as the top 10 followed as Tsolov, Slater, Taponen, Stenshorne, Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin, Giusti, Christian Ho, Stromsted and Charlie Wurz.
Heading into Lap 18, the Safety Car peeled into the pits as two laps of racing action remained.
Into Turn 4, Slater attempted to retake the lead, but Tsolov defended brilliantly as he led the order for the final lap of the Sprint.
With Slater and Taponen hot on his tail, Tsolov kept his composure to lead the last lap of the race and move up to seventh in the Drivers’ Standings.
The young British driver had to settle for second place, but it was still an excellent display in his first race in the junior series.
Taponen took the final podium spot in Bahrain after starting the race from seventh place.
Voisin took fourth place, Stenshorne finishing fifth after starting from second and Tim Tramnitz in the MP car came home in sixth place.
Giusti finished in seventh, Ho in eighth, Wurz in ninth and Stromsted rounded off the point scorers for the Sprint by ending the race in 10th.
READ MORE – Rafael Camara grabs F3 Feature Race pole in Bahrain
