F3: Franco Colapinto wins Monza sprint

Franco Colapinto won the Formula 3 sprint at Monza. Together with him, the champions of the 2023 series, Gabriel Bortoleto and Marie Boya climbed onto the podium.

Saturday morning the riders encountered cloudy but dry weather. After the application of penalties based on qualifying results, Franco Colapinto was on pole and the front row company was Marie Boya. Grégoire Sosi and Nicola Tzolov started from the second row. Gabriel Bortoleto finished eighth on the grid.

Boya started better than Colapinto and took the lead at the first corner. Behind, Paul Aron and Chao Collet made contact, leading to a puncture in the rear wheel of Estonian racer Prema’s car. As a result, Aron spun on the brake before turn one, knocking Johnny Edgar and José Maria Martí off the track. All three got out and the safety car drove onto the track.

Chao Colette, who damaged the front wing and right front wheel, visited the pits and returned to the track. Later, the stewards gave a ten-second time penalty to the Brazilian rider. Woohyun Shin returned to the pits due to problems with his car and retired.

The safety car left the track at the end of the fourth of eighteen laps. At the Battle restart he kept the lead and Zach O’Sullivan overtook Tzolov and Barnard to move up to fourth. At the entrance to the Ascari chicane, there was contact between Sofia Flörsch and Nikita Bedrin, but they were able to continue the race, with Nikita taking the lead.

On lap seven, Bortoleto overtook Christian Mansell in the Ascari for sixth. Before that, both passed Tsolova.

On the tenth lap, while braking before the first corner, Franco Colapinto successfully launched an attack on Boi and took the lead of the race.

In the battle for third place, O’Sullivan and Saucey developed wheel contact resulting in a puncture in the left rear wheel of Gregoire’s car. Bortoleto took advantage of this and moved up to third place. O’Sullivan received a ten-second time penalty.

One loop later, there was a collision between Kaylen Frederick and Tommy Smith at turn one, resulting in a puncture for Smith. Tommy failed to make it to the pits and stopped in a straight line off track on his way to the final corner. Frederik received a time penalty of ten seconds.

On lap 12, Boya regained the lead by overtaking Colapinto at the first corner. On the next lap, the MP Motorsport drivers switched positions again and Colapinto led the pack.

Once on an empty track, Franco broke away from his partner and took the race to victory. On the last lap, Bortoleto attacked Boi in Roggia and moved into second place. Maria Boya finished third and took the podium for the first time in Formula 3.

The best lap of the race went to Oliver Goethe, who crossed the finish line in seventh. Nikita Bedrin finished the race in sixteenth. The final race of the Formula 3 season will take place in Monza on Sunday morning, in which the fate of second place in the individual classification and the winner in the team classification will be determined.