James Wharton won this Saturday (the 13th) the Sprint that opened the third round of the 2026 Formula 3 season, held at the Circuit de Barcelona-C Catalunya in Spain. The Prema driver showed strong pace from the start, moved into the lead on lap five of the 21-lap race by overtaking Gerrard Xie, and fended off the attempts of his rivals to close in as he claimed his first victory of the year.
Second place went to Freddie Slater, a Trident driver who chased, unsuccessfully, to threaten Wharton, having to defend his position on the final lap. Xie, in a DAMS car, completed the podium in third after shielding himself from Tuukka Taponen, who finished fourth for MP Motorsport. Enzo Deligny, from Van Amersfoort, finished fifth.
Bruno Del Pino, also with Van Amersfoort, finished sixth, just ahead of Hiyu Yamakoshi, seventh in another Van Amersfoort car. Theóphile Nael, from Campos Racing, crossed the finish line in eighth, just ahead of Louis Sharp, ninth for Prema. The points zone was completed by Noah Stromsted of Trident.
The Brazilian Pedro Clerot put in a combative drive and finished the race in 13th place after starting the Sprint 23rd with a Rodin Motorsport car. Fernando Barrichello also climbed several positions and ended 17th after starting 24th with the car prepared by AIX Racing.
The Sprint saw the Virtual Safety Car deployed on lap seven due to Ernesto Rivera’s car stalling in the escape area after developing problems. A lap later, the actual Safety Car returned to the track. On lap 13, Ugo Ugochukwu spun the Campos Racing car, triggering another neutralization of the race.
The race that closes the third round of Formula 3 will be held on Sunday (14), with a start time from 3:40 a.m. local time.
