Action-packed Sprint rewards Stenshorne with maiden F3 victory

Martinius Stenshorne fought all the way to the line to claim his maiden Formula 3 victory, sharing the podium with Arvid Lindblad and Laurens Van Hoepen after an action-packed Sprint race at Albert Park. 

There was a slight pre-race scare for Christian Mansell, with the home racer momentarily struggling to move off his third-place grid box for the formation lap, however, the ART Grand Prix driver recovered, setting off with the rest of the field.

As the lights went out for the 20-lap Sprint, pole-man Laurens Van Hoepen found himself tussling with fellow front-row starter Martinius Stenshorne on the run down to the first corner. 

Mansell was challenged by the two Red Bull juniors behind, holding his own despite locking up as they rounded Turn 2. 

Aside from a few opening corner lock-ups, the first lap was clean for the 30-car field.

Tommy Smith had made his way up to P26, an improvement of four places after starting from the back of the grid.

The battle for the lead picked up on the third lap, with Stenshorne challenging the HiTech driver and succeeding through Turn 11. 

The next few laps saw the lead change on multiple occasions, with Turns 1 and 11 proving to be the favourite overtaking zones for the drivers.

Mansell made contact with Stenshorne, with the Australian complaint of an issue with his left rear tyre. 

On Lap 5, the Championship leader pulled into the pits, retiring from the opening race of the Australian Grand Prix weekend. 

Mansell fell into the grasp of Arvid Lindblad, and after locking up through the penultimate corner, he lost the final podium place to the Prema Racing driver. 

Mansell battling thorugh a damaged F3 Sprint.

Nikita Bedrin was pushed wide by Mari Boya through Turn 10, losing out to Goethe who was closing in behind. 

Another driver taking a trip across the gravel was tomorrow’s pole-man, Leo Fornaroli, who lost places after running wide at Turn 12.

He fell to P12, with his closest Prema competitors making bounds as Gabriele Mini moved into P6 and Dino Beganovic into P8.

Christian Mansell got back on the radio after falling all the way back to P14 at the halfway mark, emphasising his struggles. 

Smith was forced across the inside kerb at Turn 10, his Van Amersfoort Racing car becoming airborne as he tried to avoid a three-wide incident.

The Australian temporarily dropped to P27 as a result before gaining ground in P25.

Back out front, Round 1’s victor Lindblad was up into second place, reducing the 1.2-second interval to Stenshorne.

On Lap 13, the Prema Racing driver was within DRS range of Stenshorne, shrinking the gap to six-tenths by the end of the lap.

Van Hoepen in third place was seemingly out of the fight for victory, sitting 2.4 seconds behind Lindblad, with Boya a health distance in his mirrors. 

After a slight mid-race mishap, Beganovic had dropped back to P10.

The Swede was quick in making his way back up the field, demoting Bedrin through Turn 10. 

The intervals and advantages were soon made irrelevant, with the Safety Car being called out for an incident at Turn 1.

Smith ran in hot to Turn 1, braking too late and tagging Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

The home racer sent the PHM car into the gravel trap, ending the Thai driver’s race 6 laps early. 

The incident was noted, with the stewards investigating it post-race.

Leon also ended his race during the safety car, retiring in the pits.

At the restart, Stenshorne bolted from Turn 11.

The early dash worked in his favour, with Lindblad momentarily caught out. 

Beganovic made easy work of Wurz, moving up into P8 with his sight quickly shifting to Sebastian Montoya ahead.

With DRS enabled once again, the leading Red Bull junior was back within range of Stenshorne. 

Down towards Turn 11, Lindblad had a look at the lead, restraining himself as the field began the second last lap.

Side-by-side into Turn 10, Boya attempted a move for the final podium places. 

It wasn’t successful, with Boya instead coming under threat from the Hungary drivers behind.

Beganovic boldly positioned himself alongside Montoya into Turn 4, passing the Campos Racing driver to run behind his Prema teammate.

The final corners saw a switch of positions between Beganovic and Mini, however, with the Swede drag-racing the #2 to the line, and coming out on top.

As for the podium places, Stenshorne held his own across a tense final lap, defending from the DRS threat of Lindblad behind to take his maiden F3 victory.

Van Hoepen completed the final podium places, also achieving a career first with his maiden F3 podium here in Melbourne. 

As for the Australians, they’ll both be hoping for a much more positive run tomorrow. 

Christian Mansell ended his Sprint race in P12 after sustaining damage in early-race contact with Stenshorne.

The ART Grand Prix racer was hopeful of securing a home podium, with the task all the more difficult when he starts the Feature Race from P9.

Tommy Smith’s Lap 14 incident cost him the chance to move up the order, with a potential penalty looming for the already last-place-starting Australian.

The #22 finished the Sprint in P25.

The F3 feature race will kick off at 9:10 AM on Sunday, with today’s racing proving that the Australian crowd are in for a real treat tomorrow.

Sprint Race Results:

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