F3: Arvid Lindblad takes his second win of the season

Sunday’s Formula 3 race in Barcelona ended with a victory for Arvid Lindblad. He was joined on stage by Christian Mansell and Leonardo Fornaroli.

Sunday morning greeted the riders with cloudy weather. By the time of the start the air had warmed to +20C and the asphalt temperature +25C.

Pole holder Christian Mansell retained the lead at the start, although Arvid Lindblad tried to put pressure on his opponent in the first corner.

Luke Browning tried to attack Nikola Tsolov for third place, but the Bulgarian rider kept his position. Behind them, in the battle for seventh place, there was contact between Oliver Goethe and Martinius Stenshorn. Stenshorn and Marie Boya, who were riding behind, left the track, but returned and continued.

On the fifth lap of twenty-five, a synchronized overtake took place in the first corner: Lindblad was ahead of Mansell in the battle for the lead, and Browning, who had shown the best time on the previous lap, was ahead of Tsolova in the battle for the lead . battle for third place.

In the measured course of the race, in which the pilots rode in place and overtaking attempts were only made outside the top twenty, rain could get in the way. On the twelfth lap, Laurens van Heupen told the team that he could see the first drops, but that the track remained dry until the finish.

On the fourteenth lap, Oliver Goethe got close enough to Van Heupen and overtook him in the first corner in the battle for sixth place.

By the twentieth lap, Lindblad’s lead over Mansell had grown to four seconds. In turn, Christian was two seconds ahead of Luke Browning, and only Nikola Tsolov remained in the DRS zone behind Luke, leaving hope of fighting for a podium place in the closing laps.

However, on the twenty-second lap, Leonardo Fornaroil attacked Tsolov himself and moved up to fourth place. On the same lap, Kasper Stuka attacked Nikita Bedrin in the first corner, touching his opponent and pushing Bedrin off the track, who drove slowly to the pits, where he retired.

On the next lap Tsolov lost another position and passed Oliver Goethe. On the penultimate lap, in the battle for seventh place, Stenshorn hit Van Heupen’s rear wheel in turn four, leading to a puncture in Lawrence’s car. A lap later Stenshorn himself suffered a flat right front tire.

On the final lap, Leonardo Fornaroli attacked Browning and moved to third exiting turn three.

Further on, Formula 3’s youngest driver, Arvid Lindblad, confidently led the race to his second victory of the season. Mansell finished second, Fornaroli third.

Gabriele Mini, who arrived in Barcelona as the championship leader, finished outside the top twenty. The Prema driver had a disappointing weekend and did not score a single point. After the fifth stage of the season, Fornaroli became the championship leader, Browning climbed to second place and Mini dropped to third. Lindblad moved up to fourth place.

The next Formula 3 round will take place in Spielberg, Austria next week.