F3: Nikola Tsolov won the sprint in Monaco

Bulgarian ART team driver Nikola Tsolov won the Formula 3 sprint in Monaco on Saturday. Together with him, Tim Tramnitz and Laurens van Heupen climbed to the podium.

Saturday morning greeted the riders with warm and sunny weather. Pole holder Tzolov retained the lead, while Tim Tramnitz overtook Laurens van Heupen in the first corner.

In the middle of the pack at the third corner there was a collapse involving seven cars, provoked by Christian Mansell, who rear-ended Arvid Lindblad’s car. The safety car came onto the track and the race ended for Lindblad, Mansell, Dufek, Dunne and Shields. Charlie Wurtz and Sebastian Montoya were able to reach the pits and replace their damaged wings before returning to the track.

On the second lap of twenty-three, the race was stopped by red flags so that the stewards could remove the cars and unblock the track.

The break lasted more than twenty minutes. The drivers returned to the track behind the safety car and set off after a warm-up lap. This time there was not only no blockage, but also no overtaking.

Nikola Tzolov started to pull away from the peloton and immediately set the fastest lap, but on lap five Tramnitz responded by taking the fastest lap and cutting the lead to one second. In the sixth round Noel Leon scored the best time. Another lap later, Dino Beganovich, who was in seventh place, was the fastest.

On lap eight, the stewards gave debutant James Hedley a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Pyotr Vishnitsky, who was in 20th place, was given a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lead.

On the twelfth lap, Sebastian Montoya overtook Nikita Bedrin at the first corner, and Tasanopol Intrafuvasak overtook James Headley.

On the thirteenth lap, Kasper Stuka stopped in the first corner of the track and the safety car returned to the track. A few hundred meters earlier, a collision took place in the last corner between Stuka and Sofia Flörsch, causing Kasper to get a flat tire in the rear wheel and Sofia to break her front wing. Floersch returned to the pits for a new wing.

At the end of the fifteenth lap the safety car left the track. The restart went smoothly and the drivers maintained their position on the track. At the end of the lap, Bedrin returned to the pits and retired.

The leading Tzolov began to increase his lead over his pursuers, as he was given a five-second penalty for repeated influence behind the safety car. Five laps before the finish, Nikola’s lead over Tim was 2.6 seconds, and three and a half laps before the finish, the stewards decided that there was no violation in Tsolov’s actions.

On the twenty-first lap, Sami Megetunif lost speed and fell back to last position. The Trident driver tried to reach the pits, but stopped at the pit lane entrance.

Nikola Tsolov confidently took the race to the first victory of his career, beating Tim Tramnitz at the finish by 4.3 seconds. Thanks to Lawrence van Heupen’s third place, the ART rider was able to reach the podium for the third time this season.

Leonardo Fornaroli, Luke Browning and Dino Beganovic, in first, second and third place in the individual rankings, finished ninth, eighth and seventh respectively.