SPRINT RACE: Stenshorne in dominant form to claim Monte Carlo victory

Martinius Stenshorne took the lead at the start of the race and never looked back, going on to win the Monte Carlo Sprint Race.

The Hitech TGR driver crossed the line over two seconds ahead of ART Grand Prix driver Tuukka Taponen, who was joined on the podium by his teammate Laurens van Hoepen.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was a fast start from second for Stenshorne, but pole-sitter Alessandro Giusti had a slow getaway and dropped to fourth before reaching Turn 1.

Taponen was one of the beneficiaries of Giusti’s start as the ART driver went up to P2 ahead of his teammate van Hoepen.

However, the Safety Car was deployed at the end of the opening lap as James Hedley, Nicola Lacorte, Santiago Ramos, and Ivan Domingues collided at Turn 8, with all four drivers’ cars needing to be cleared up.

In a separate incident, Noel León and Callum Voisin made contact, forcing the PREMA Racing driver to stop on track with damage.

Back to racing conditions, Stenshorne was showing good pace out in front and had pulled out a one second gap to Taponen by the start of Lap 10, the rookie now coming under threat from van Hoepen.

Onto Lap 12, and the Norwegian’s lead was over 2.1s while van Hoepen was less than two-tenths away from Taponen.

However, by the end of the lap, the Finn driver reduced the gap to just 0.6s, while Charlie Wurz, in sixth, was now under pressure from his TRIDENT teammate Rafael Câmara.

Behind them, Mari Boya was under attack from Voisin, with his Rodin Motorsport teammates Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski keeping a close eye on their battle.

Lap 15 of 23, Noah Stromsted reported a puncture after colliding with Brad Benavides. The damage forced the TRIDENT rookie to retire after recovering to the pit lane.

Out in front, Stenshorne had built his lead back up to 1.3s clear by the end of Lap 17, with van Hoepen and Giusti right on the back of Taponen once again.

There was then a change of position for P12, as Benavides went down the inside of Ugo Ugochukwu into Turn 1.

Onto the penultimate lap and Boya was having to hold off the Rodin trio for P8. Voisin then hit the rear of the Spaniard at the Nouvelle Chicane, causing him to have a slow exit, which allowed teammate Sharp to take ninth from him.

Back at the front, Stenshorne stormed off to win by 2.2s from Taponen, as van Hoepen rounded out the top three to achieve his first podium since this same race in 2024.

Giusti was ultimately forced to settle for fourth ahead of his MP Motorsport teammate Tim Tramnitz, while Wurz held off Câmara to take P6. Boya held on for eighth ahead of Sharp, as Voisin rounded out the top 10.

KEY QUOTE – Martinius Stenshorne, Hitech TGR

“It feels good. It was a bit difficult yesterday we had potential for more but we had a bit of traffic on the last lap, but that’s what made us start from P2 today and allowed us to take the win. Extremely happy, big thanks to Hitech for helping me and improving the car, so big thanks to them.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Rafael Câmara adds four points to his tally out to move to 77 points, still in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, while MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz goes to 54 points and to second place ahead of Noah Stromsted. Tuukka Taponen stays in fourth for ART Grand Prix with 45 points, 10 clear of Santiago Ramos, who rounds out the top five.

In the Teams’ Standings, TRIDENT also retain their lead on 144 points, with MP Motorsport second on 89. Campos Racing continue in third on 63 points, with Rodin Motorsport fourth on 57. Van Amersfoort Racing stay on 54 points in fifth place, but they are now tied with ART Grand Prix.

UP NEXT

The drivers have another opportunity to hit the jackpot in Monte Carlo this weekend with Sunday’s Feature Race set to get underway at 08:00 local time.