MP Motorsport driver Jonny Edgar has took his first Formula 3 victory of his career in a chaotic, Safety Car riddled finale in Monza that saw Prema crowned as the team champions and an all-British podium at the end of it.
Polesitter Oliver Goethe complained of throttle issues as the grid formed for the start, as the Trident driver pulled off the grid towards the pit lane, resulted into an aborted start.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Caio Collet lead the field away for the second formation lap, which also saw the ART of Kaylen Frederik stall on the grid, and getting wheeled into the pit lane.
Once the start did get underway, Collet got away cleanly as third place driver Paul Aron was put under pressure and overtaken by MP’s Jonny Edgar and newly crowned champion Gabriel Bortoleto flew past the Estonian’s Prema as well, launching himself onto the podium.
Yesterday’s Sprint race winner Franco Colapinto found himself stationary on the track after lap one contact leading to suspension damage, ending the MP driver’s hopes of retaining second in the championship and bringing out the Safety Car.
Collet lead the field away again on the fourth lap, as behind him, it was the Trident cars of Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli versus the Prema cars of Aron and Zak O’Sullivan as the teams fought for the Team Championship as well as second in the Driver Championship for Aron and O’Sullivan.
As DRS was enabled, racing became even more frantic, with both Aron and Bortoleto making mistakes and allowing O’Sullivan to jump the pair, launching the British driver into the podium positions, while Bortoleto
Edgar managed to get past Collet right as the Safety Car came out when ART’s Gregoire Saucy found the wall in the first Lesmo as the result of a puncture on his left rear tyre.
Once again, the field was lead away after a Safety Car restart, with Edgar making the late jump and holding onto the lead against Collet and Aron went wide, dropping all the way out of the points, giving O’Sullivan the upper hand for second place in the championship.
Bortoleto was once again on a charge, passing Nikola Tsolov, while his teammate Fornaroli seemed to briefly lose power, dropping the Trident down the order once again while a bit further up, a fight between O’Sullivan and Jenzer’s Taylor Barnard was forming, with the Jenzer driver winning that round.
It was a constant change of lead at the front between Edgar and Collet, with Barnard, O’Sullivan, and Bortoleto hot on their heels as a third Safety Car of the day appeared when Sebastian Montoya found himself stranded in the gravel at turn 5.
Edgar lead away on the third Safety Car restart, repeating his previous restart as it was still all to play for at the front.
O’Sullivan proved himself alert and jumped both Barnard and Collet, as well as challenging Edgar for the lead of the race but going wide.
It was once again the Safety Car at the top of the field, as Pepe Martí and Ido Cohen went off together, adding the total of retired cars to eight.
The next car to add to that total was the PHM by Roberto Faria, who pulled over at the pit lane exit while still under the Safety Car.
It was a one-lap shootout that would decide the race, as Edgar lead the field away one last time.
The MP driver got away well as O’Sullivan fought Collet for the second podium position but it was Barnard who jumped the Brazilian driver into third.
Edgar’s getaway allowed him to win ahead of O’Sullivan, who also got himself into second place in the championship, with the duo joined by Barnard for an all-British podium.
The top ten was completed by Collet, Bortoleto, Mari Boya, Aron, Christian Mansell, Dino Beganovic, and Rafael Villagomez.
Aron’s seventh place finish was enough to hold onto third in the championship, staying ahead of both Colapinto and Martí, both of whom failed to finish the race, while Beganovic in sixth managed to stay ahead of Mini in seventh.
Goethe, Collet, and Barnard complete the top ten in the championship.
