F3: Nikola Tsolov took his second win of the season

Nikola Tsolov won the Formula 3 sprint in Spielberg on Saturday. For the Bulgarian rider of the ART team this victory was the second of the season. Together with him Martinius Stenshorn and Christian Mansell stood on the podium.

Saturday morning it was dry in Spielberg and the sun was shining brightly. After Friday’s qualifying, stewards fined Luke Browning for losing three places at the start due to blocking Dino Beganovic. The British driver, who had won pole the day before and would have started twelfth today, moved up to fifteenth position at the start.

At the start Martinius Stenshorn lost the lead to Christian Mansell. In the middle of the top ten Dino Beganovich spun on the exit of the first corner. The Prema rider kept fighting but fell back to the back of the pack. In corner four Stenshorn lost another position, allowing Nikola Tsolov to take over second place.

At this point the safety car came out on track thanks to Kasper Stucka, who retired exiting the first corner with a broken rear suspension after contact with Charlie Wurz’s car.

The safety car left the track at the end of lap four of twenty-one. Mansell confidently retained the lead, and behind the top ten Luke Browning made up two places to move up to eleventh.

Mansell immediately tried to open a gap on the peloton and showed the best lap, but Tsolov did not let him go and on the seventh lap, exiting the fourth corner, he overtook Christian along the outside radius and took the lead of the race. . Now Tsolov tried to open a gap and showed the best round.

On lap ten, Luke Browning moved into the top ten, overtaking Tim Tramnitz in turn three. On lap eleven, Lawrence Vas Hoepen overtook Oliver Goethe in the battle for sixth place. On lap twelfth, Nikita Bedrin lost two positions after a thrilling battle and dropped to sixteenth place, letting Leonardo Fornaroli and Marie Boya pass.

On lap fifteen, the battle between the leaders intensified. Christian Mansell attacked Tsolov into turn three and took the lead, but Nikola counter-attacked and regained the lead exiting turn four. On the following lap, Mansell attacked Tsolov into turn four, and this time successfully.

On the seventeenth lap, Tzolov, followed by Stenshorn, managed to pass Mansell in succession at the exit of turn four.

Behind them, in the battle for fourth place with Alex Dunne, Sebastian Montoya caught the grass with his left wheels, touched Dunne, lost control of the car under braking for turn four, crossed the track and crashed into the protective barrier. The safety car came out for the second time.

The race resumed on the final lap. Nikola Tsolov did not give Stenshorn the chance to get within attack range and took the race to victory. Christian Mansell finished third.

Luke Browning failed to stay in the top ten, allowing Sami Megetunif to pass. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli finished twelfth, one position ahead of Nikita Bedrin.