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Sport
Megan White

F3 Monaco: Marti dominates sprint for second win of 2023

The Campos Racing driver started on reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s race as the series made its first visit to the principality since its GP3 guise in 2012.

Despite one safety car, it was a sedate race for F3, with few moves among the top 10.

After the restart, Marti managed to build a convincing gap, having opened up three seconds to Leonardo Fornaroli in the first 11 laps of racing before crossing the line eight seconds ahead of the Trident driver.

Gregoire Saucy finished third for ART Grand Prix to take his third podium of the season, sitting second in the drivers’ standings.

With Marti leading off the line ahead of Fornaroli, the only early move at the front came courtesy of Saucy passing Jenzer’s Taylor Barnard for third around the outside of Turn 1.

Further back, Hitech driver Luke Browning made it past Caio Collet (MP) and Sunday polesitter Gabriele Mini clinched 11th from Prema rival Dino Beganovic.

Josep Maria Marti, Leonardo Fornaroli and Gregoire Saucy (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

The safety car was quickly deployed after MP Motorsport driver Jonny Edgar found the wall at Turn 1, ending his race, with team-mate Mari Boya swerving to avoid him and suffering terminal damage to his rear-left side.

Racing resumed on lap six, with Franco Colapinto also making it past Barnard, this time up the inside of the Fairmont hairpin.

Tommy Smith was involved in a shunt heading into the tunnel in his Van Amersfoort Racing car, with Oliver Goethe bumping him into the wall and receiving a 10-second penalty.

Smith was also involved in a tussle between Piotr Wisnicki and Ido Cohen at the hairpin as the trio battled further down the field, the Israeli driver nudging the Pole as they headed down the hill.

By lap 15, the gap from Marti to Fornaroli was two seconds, and it continued to grow, up to three seconds just two laps later as the Spaniard pulled away and Fornaroli fell into Saucy’s clutches.

Further back, Sebastian Montoya (Hitech) looked set to close on Trident driver Gabriel Bortoleto, but the Brazilian was able to hold him behind in the fight for sixth.

Saucy had a small lock-up into the hairpin on lap 21 as he attempted to close further on Fornaroli, but never made it close enough.

Colapinto finished fourth with Barnard and Bortoleto in fifth and sixth. Montoya, Browning, Collet and Prema driver Paul Aron rounded off the top 10.

F3 Monaco Race Results (23 laps)

Cla Driver Team Time Gap Points
1 Pepe Martí Spain Campos Racing 35'47.957   10
2 Leonardo Fornaroli Italy Trident 35'56.080 8.123 9
3 Switzerland Gregoire Saucy France ART Grand Prix 35'56.792 8.835 8
4 Argentina Franco Colapinto Netherlands MP Motorsport 35'57.281 9.324 7
5 Taylor Barnard Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 35'59.546 11.589 6
6 Gabriel Bortoleto Italy Trident 36'01.603 13.646 5
7 Colombia Sebastian Montoya Hitech Pulse-Eight 36'01.903 13.946 4
8 Luke Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight 36'02.536 14.579 3
9 Brazil Caio Collet Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 36'03.942 15.985 2
10 Paul Aron Italy Prema Powerteam 36'05.872 17.915 1
11 Gabriele Minì Hitech Pulse-Eight 36'06.396 18.439  
12 Dino Beganovic Italy Prema Powerteam 36'07.956 19.999  
13 United Kingdom Zak O'Sullivan Italy Prema Powerteam 36'08.896 20.939  
14 Nikola Tsolov France ART Grand Prix 36'10.248 22.291  
15 Nikita Bedrin Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 36'11.215 23.258  
16 Mexico Rafael Villagomez Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 36'11.985 24.028  
17 Oliver Goethe Italy Trident 36'23.803 35.846  
18 Piotr Wiśnicki PHM Racing by Charouz 36'26.424 38.467  
19 Israel Ido Cohen Rodin Carlin 36'28.326 40.369  
20 Christian Mansell Spain Campos Racing 36'28.769 40.812  
21 Tommy Smith Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 36'30.354 42.397  
22 Oliver Gray Rodin Carlin 36'31.677 43.720  
23 Germany Sophia Flörsch PHM Racing by Charouz 36'33.102 45.145  
24 United States Kaylen Frederick France ART Grand Prix 36'35.350 47.393  
25 Hugh Barter Spain Campos Racing 36'38.033 50.076  
26 Alex Garcia Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 36'49.350 1'01.393  
27 Hunter Yeany Rodin Carlin 36'54.550 3 Laps  
  Roberto Faria PHM Racing by Charouz 3 laps    
  Mari Boya Netherlands MP Motorsport 3 laps    
  United Kingdom Jonny Edgar Netherlands MP Motorsport 4 laps    
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