Gerrard Xie won this Saturday (the 6th) the Sprint of the second round of Formula 3, contested on the street circuit set up in Monte Carlo, in Monaco. While he finished second on the track in the race that opened the second round, the DAMS driver from China inherited the top position hours after the race due to the disqualification of Hiyu Yamakoshi, who had finished first on track.
Hours after the race, Yamakoshi was disqualified following technical inspection that detected that the front suspension arms on the Van Amersfoort car had been mounted inverted, with the right-side arm on the left and vice versa.
The second position went to Bruno del Pino, a Van Amersfoort driver who overtook Pedro Clerot on the restart. The Brazilian from Rodin Motorsport achieved a podium finish for the first time by ending third, and was followed by Alessandro Giusti, fourth with MP Motorsport. Noah Stromsted, of Trident, completed the list of the top five.
Ugo Ugochukwu finished sixth in the morning’s race in a Campos Racing car, followed by Jin Nakamura, seventh with Hitech. Maciej Gladysz, of ART Grand Prix, finished eighth, while Kanato Le, his teammate, was ninth. José Garfias, from Prema, moved up to tenth position benefiting from Yamakoshi’s disqualification, as well as a penalty against Nicola Lacorte, which allowed him to gain an advantage after leaving the track. Fernando Barrichello climbed ten positions with the AIX Racing car and finished 20th.
The race featured several interventions by the Safety Car. On the first lap, several cars found themselves at Loews, with Christian Ho and Brad Benavides colliding there. Tuukka Taponen, meanwhile, stopped inside the tunnel with problems to his car after triggering a crash in the circuit’s slowest corner. Brando Badoer also exited the race. A short while later, race control red-flagged the event, stopping the showdown.
After the restart, the race included a Safety Car intervention after Freddie Slater hit Ernesto Rivera at the Monaco circuit’s chicane. The Trident driver was also struck by Theophile Nael. The three managed to rejoin the race, albeit at the back of the field, but Slater was penalized by ten seconds for causing a collision. There was also a Virtual Safety Car due to debris on the track.
After the Sprint, Formula 3 will feature the feature race on Sunday (7), with a start scheduled for 2:55 p.m.
Check the final results of the Monaco Sprint round of the F3:
- Gerrard Xie (CHN/DAMS)
- Bruno del Pino (ESP/Van Amersfoort)
- Pedro Clerot (BRA/Rodin)
- Alessandro Giusti (FRA/MP Motorsport)
- Noah Stromsted (NOR/Trident)
- Ugo Ugochukwu (USA/Campos Racing)
- Jin Nakamura (JAP/Hitech)
- Maciej Gladysz (POL/ART Grand Prix)
- Kanato Le (JAP/ART Grand Prix)
- Nicola Lacorte (ITA/DAMS)
- Matteo De Palo (ITA/Trident)
- Louis Sharp (AUS/Prema)
- Woohyun Shin (COR/Hitech)
- Enzo Deligny (FRA/Van Amersfoort)
- José Garfias (MEX/Prema)
- Mattia Colnaghi (ARG/MP Motorsport)
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (TAI/DAMS)
- Fernando Barrichello (BRA/AIX Racing)
- Yevan David (SRI/AIX Racing)
- Fionn McLaughlin (IRL/Hitech)
- James Wharton (AUS/Prema)
- Taito Kato (JAP/ART Grand Prix)
- Freddie Slater (ING/Trident)
- Theophile Nael (FRA/Campos Racing)
Did not finish
- Ernesto Rivera (MEX/Campos Racing)
- Tuukka Taponen (FIN/MP Motorsport)
- Brando Badoer (ITA/Rodin)
- Brad Benavides (AIX Racing)
- Christian Ho (SIN/Rodin)
Disqualified
- Hyiu Yamakoshi (JAP/Van Amersfoort)
