F3: Home favourite Boya claims maiden victory in Barcelona Sprint Race

Mari Boya secured a special first Formula 3 victory on home soil after overcoming a Safety Car restart and the challenge of MP Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne to win the Barcelona Sprint Race.

Boya started in third but was quickly up into the lead on Lap 3 after the Trident pair of Santiago Ramos and Sami Meguetounif collided at Turn 1 while battling for P1.

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A Safety Car was required a lap later after Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin and AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin collided at the same corner, but Boya managed the resulting restart perfectly as he held onto the lead.

After resisting an attempted overtake from Dunne, another Safety Car intervention was required late on as Gabriele Mini and Sebastian Montoya made contact before going into the gravel at Turn 5.

With the Safety Car withdrawn on the final lap, Boya went across the line unchallenged giving him his first win in the Championship. McLaren development driver Dunne followed him home in second, making him the first Irishman to achieve a Formula 3 podium.

Campos had two cars on the podium with Oliver Goethe in third, while the second McLaren-backed driver in the field, Martinius Stenshorne, crossed the line in fourth for Hitech Pulse-Eight.

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Laurens van Hoepen was the lead ART Grand Prix car in fifth ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon, who went from P13 to P6.

Leonardo Fornaroli closed the gap to within two points of Championship leader Mini by finishing seventh. He took the chequered flag ahead of the PREMA Racing pair of Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad, as MP’s Tim Tramnitz took the final point in P10.

The Barcelona Feature Race – which will be the 100th race in the Championship’s history – is set to start at 1005 local time tomorrow morning with Christian Mansell lining up on pole.

For an in-depth report of the Formula 3 Sprint Race from Barcelona, visit the official website here.