FEATURE RACE: Voisin takes maiden F3 victory in busy Spa-Francorchamps affair

Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin put in a mature performance to take a first Formula 3 victory in an incident-filled Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race.

The Briton managed his way through three Safety Car restarts to keep the lead before crossing the line to give him and the team their first win.

Sebastián Montoya ran him close in second for Campos Racing while Leonardo Fornaroli took third for Trident, which was good enough to give him the Championship lead.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was a great start from pole-sitter Voisin as he kept hold of the lead, but the big gainer was Montoya as he was up to second from fourth.

Front row starter Alexander Dunne had a slow start and dropped to fourth while Fornaroli maintained third place.

But behind them, there was a huge moment in the title race as Gabriele Minì fell to the back of the field following a collision with Oliver Goethe. The contact left the PREMA Racing driver turned around and at the back of the field, while the Campos was forced to pit with a puncture.

As they started Lap 2, Voisin locked up heading into Turn 1, with both Montoya and Fornaroli right on the back of his Rodin car. He was able to keep the position, but Noel León could not do the same, losing P5 to Sami Meguetounif down the Kemmel Straight.

The Safety Car was then required on Lap 3 when Martinius Stenshorne spun at Stavelot. ART Grand Prix debutant Tuukka Taponen was having his own separate incident coming into the corner as he collided with Joshua Dufek before spinning into the side of the Hitech.

We were back racing on Lap 7 and Voisin had a great restart ahead of Montoya and Fornaroli, while Meguetounif’s charge continued as he overtook Dunne for fourth down the Kemmel Straight.

But another Safety Car was soon deployed after Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake collided and spun off at Turn 9. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver was stuck in the gravel while the latter was able to continue.

The race restarted on Lap 10 of 15 and once again Voisin had a good start, but Dunne was struggling once more, dropping from P5 to P10.

A third Safety Car was needed after Christian Mansell hit the rear of Arvid Lindblad, sending the PREMA Racing driver into the gravel at Turn 9.

At the same time, Charlie Wurz touched the rear right tyre of Mari Boya, giving the Campos Racing driver a puncture, before he went into the barrier at Turn 11. The Austrian was then forced to come into the pit lane to replace a damaged front wing.

Voisin led the pack away on Lap 14 as we returned to green flag conditions, with Montoya and Fornaroli staying behind him. However, León dived down the inside of Meguetounif into Turn 7 to take back P4.

Onto the final lap and Voisin had built up a lead of nearly one second as he crossed the like to take the victory, with Montoya in second, while Fornaroli finished third to take the lead of the Drivers’ Championship.

León finished fourth for VAR ahead of Meguetounif, with Luke Browning in sixth for Hitech Pulse-Eight ahead of Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson. Santiago Ramos made it three Trident cars in the points, with Tim Tramnitz and Dunne rounding out the points for MP.

Even without scoring, the result means PREMA Racing take an unassailable lead into the final round in Monza, making them the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Team Champions.

KEY QUOTE – Callum Voisin, Rodin Motorsport

“Extremely happy, first win for me, first win for the team, can’t thank everybody enough for everything that they have done, the hard work and see you guys in a couple of weeks in Monza.”

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Leonardo Fornaroli’s P3 result puts him on 129 points and to the top of the Drivers’ Championship, one point ahead of Gabriele Minì who finished in P13, while Luke Browning is third on 123. For the second consecutive weekend, Arvid Lindblad fails to score and he stays on 113 points in fourth, while Dino Beganovic rounds out the top five on 100.

In the Teams’ Standings, PREMA Racing are on 341 points and hold a 115-point lead over ART Grand Prix, making them 2024 FIA Formula 3 Champions, with the French outfit unable to catch them at Monza. Trident are on 217 points in third, ahead of Campos Racing on 175, with Hitech Pulse-Eight on 149.

UP NEXT

The drivers and the teams will have a few weeks off for the summer break before returning for the final round in Monza from August 30 to September 1.