F3: Arvid Lindblad takes Sprint Race win on debut

PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad took his maiden Formula 3 victory at the first time of asking, battling through from fourth on the grid to take the Sprint Race win in Bahrain.

The youngest driver on the 2024 grid bided his time in the early stages of the race as those ahead fought hard for the lead.

READ MORE: Beganovic on pole for PREMA Racing in Bahrain

Managing his Pirelli hard compound tyres to perfection, the Red Bull Junior Team driver picked off his rivals one-by-one, taking the lead in the closing stages and escaping up the road and out of DRS range.

Laurens van Hoepen of ART Grand Prix ensured there were two rookies on the podium in the first race of the new campaign. The Dutch driver had started from reverse grid pole but lost out to teammate Nikola Tsolov in the early laps.

He and Tsolov enjoyed a hard but fair fight as the race ticked to over halfway, overtaking and re-overtaking one another at Turns 1 and 4 on successive laps.

Eventually, van Hoepen won out, able to clear Tsolov into the first corner after the Alpine Academy driver fell out of DRS range to Lindblad ahead.

Leonardo Fornaroli rounded out the podium for Trident, steadily rising through the top 10 having started from seventh on the reverse grid.

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Elsewhere, polesitter for the Feature Race Dino Beganovic endured a tough start to his season. The Swede made contact with Trident’s Santiago Ramos at the first corner at the start, eventually being handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident. The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member ended up 29th at the chequered flag.

For a full and in-depth report on the FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race, head over to the official website here.