Colapinto takes first F3 win in crash-laden Sprint Race at Imola

Franco Colapinto took his, and Van Amersfoort Racing‘s first win since moving up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in the Sprint Race at Imola on Saturday.

He started on pole, ahead of Jenzer Motorsport‘s Ido Cohen and Kush Maini (MP Motorsport), but that doesn’t begin to explain his route to the top step.

Colapinto covered off Cohen into the Tamburello chicane, allowing Maini and Caio Collet past the Israeli driver.

Championship leader Victor Martins ended the first lap in fourth place, just before Oliver Bearman ran wide halfway through Tamburello on Lap 2.

Zak O’Sullivan looked up the inside of Cohen at the same corner a lap later, Tamburello quickly proving the best overtaking opportunity even before DRS was enabled.

Collet got past Colapinto to take the lead there on Lap 4, while O’Sullivan also moved his Carlin up to sixth in the meantime.

Isack Hadjar moved past Victor Martins, while Martins’ ART Grand Prix team-mate Gregoire Saucy was eased wide by Cohen. He got stuck on O’Sullivan’s sidepod as he tried to come back onto the racing line but neither sustained any damage.

Hadjar then tried to get past Maini into Tamburello, forcing a mistake from the Indian driver into the Villeneuve chicane to get up into third.

Jak Crawford moved his way up the order for Prema Racing, getting past Cohen at Tamburello to set about closing the four-second gap to Martins.

Bearman was trying to recover from his earlier mistake, and set the fastest lap in the process, but was forced into a spin at Tosa after being squeezed by team-mate Arthur Leclerc.

O’Sullivan and Josep Maria Marti both retired at Rivazza 2, O’Sullivan spinning out of a good position after skating across the kerb. The Campos Racing driver joined him in a separate incident several seconds later.

During the resulting safety car period, Kush Maini received a drive-through penalty for starting outside his grid box. As he couldn’t serve it behind the safety car, the MP Motorsport driver dropped right to the back once it came in.

Alexander Smolyar had more than a little look up the inside of Roman Stanek at Rivazza 2 a lap after the restart but couldn’t force a move past the Trident.

Reece Ushijima and Federico Malvestiti tangled as David Schumacher went off on Lap 13 to bring the safety car back out again. Ushijima seemed to run up the back of Malvestiti, at the same corner as Kaylen Frederick collected Ido Cohen in taking avoiding action a lap earlier.

The race finally resumed for a four-lap sprint, meaning the drivers would only get DRS heading onto the last lap.

Leclerc and Enzo Trulli both ran wide at Villeneuve on Lap 17, Leclerc bringing the braking markers back onto the track in pieces with him and scrambling the Virtual Safety Car to clear up the debris.

Crawford was squeezed into the gravel on the entrance to Tamburello at the restart on Lap 19 as he tried to get around the outside of Victor Martins, but was able to rejoin safely.

Isack Hadjar sent one round the outside of Collet at Tamburello on the final lap, finding the gap closing and spinning Collet into the wall and out of the race.

FIA Formula 3 Championship Sprint Race Results – Imola