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Megan White

F3 Spa: Maloney bounces back from crash for maiden series win

The Trident driver, who suffered a huge crash in the sprint race, lined up second before passing Caio Collet for the lead on the first lap, but was forced to give the position back after the pair ran wide, letting Oliver Goethe into the lead in the process and dropping the Barbadian to third.

But he fought back, moving back up to second several laps later, before passing his MP Motorsport rival late in the race at Les Combes for the lead.

Roman Stanek took second, with Collet crossing the line in third but demoted to sixth by a five-second penalty for rejoining unsafely after his tussle with Maloney, handing Bearman third place after winning Saturday’s sprint race.

Both Collet and Maloney got strong starts off the line, with the Brazilian driver leading, but the pair’s Les Combes tussle on lap one handed Goethe, in just his second F3 weekend, the lead.

The safety car was deployed on lap three after Kush Maini and Francesco Pizzi made contact at the chicane, with Maini then taking out title contender Victor Martins and Ido Cohen as he attempted to get back to the pits.

Racing resumed on lap six, with Collet taking the lead from Goethe on the Kemmel straight before Maloney retook second out of Les Combes.

Stanek then took third from Goethe at the same spot the following tour, demoting the Euroformula Open championship leader to fourth.

Zane Maloney, Roman Stanek, Oliver Bearman (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

The race was neutralised for a second time after just one lap of racing, with Gregoire Saucy and Pepe Marti tangling at Turn 7 and the ART driver ending up in the wall.

Once racing resumed, Maloney snatched the lead from Collet at Les Combes, with Jonny Edgar (Trident) applying pressure to Goethe for fourth as Bearman tried to get in on the action.

Stanek took second from Collet at the end of the Kemmel straight on lap 14 as further back, Arthur Leclerc, who started in 20th, tussled with Zak O’Sullivan for 12th before going wide at Les Combes.

With just three laps remaining, Bearman took fifth up the inside of Turn 1 from Edgar before launching his attack on Goethe on the final lap, breezing past on the Kemmel straight.

The podium promotes Bearman to second in the standings, just one point behind Isack Hadjar, who finished 14th after struggling in tricky conditions in qualifying.

Bearman in turn sits one point ahead of Martins, with Leclerc another point back in the standings with two rounds remaining at Zandvoort and Monza.

Collet settled for sixth, with David Vidales in seventh having lined up 18th for Campos Racing and William Alatalo in eighth.

Alexander Smolyar and Reece Ushijima rounded off the top 10, with Leclerc finishing just outside the points in 11th.

F3 Spa-Francorchamps - Feature Race Results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Interval
1 Barbados Zane Maloney Italy Trident 18 -    
2 Czech Republic Roman Staněk Italy Trident 18 1.0 1.000 1.000
3 United Kingdom Oliver Bearman Italy Prema Powerteam 18 5.6 5.600 4.600
4 Monaco Oliver Goethe Spain Campos Racing 18 6.7 6.700 1.100
5 United Kingdom Jonny Edgar Italy Trident 18 7.4 7.400 0.700
6 Brazil Caio Collet Netherlands MP Motorsport 18 9.2 9.200 1.800
7 Spain David Vidales Spain Campos Racing 18 10.8 10.800 1.600
8 Finland William Alatalo Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 18 10.8 10.800 0.000
9 Russian Federation Alexander Smolyar Netherlands MP Motorsport 18 11.6 11.600 0.800
10 Japan Reece Ushijima Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 18 13.3 13.300 1.700
11 Monaco Arthur Leclerc Italy Prema Powerteam 18 13.6 13.600 0.300
12 Argentina Franco Colapinto Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 18 14.8 14.800 1.200
13 United Kingdom Zak O'Sullivan United Kingdom Carlin 18 15.7 15.700 0.900
14 France Isack Hadjar United Kingdom HitechGP 18 16.4 16.400 0.700
15 United States Juan Manuel Correa France ART Grand Prix 18 16.9 16.900 0.500
16 United States Kaylen Frederick United Kingdom HitechGP 18 17.9 17.900 1.000
17 United States Jak Crawford Italy Prema Powerteam 18 18.3 18.300 0.400
18 United States Brad Benavides United Kingdom Carlin 18 20.1 20.100 1.800
19 Mexico Rafael Villagomez Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 18 20.6 20.600 0.500
20 Malaysia Nazim Azman United Kingdom HitechGP 18 20.9 20.900 0.300
21 Italy Francesco Pizzi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 18 21.5 21.500 0.600
22 Spain Josep Maria Martí Spain Campos Racing 18 23.7 23.700 2.200
23 United Kingdom Christian Mansell Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 18 24.6 24.600 0.900
24 Italy Enzo Trulli United Kingdom Carlin 18 24.9 24.900 0.300
25 Hungary László Tóth Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 18 25.4 25.400 0.500
26 Italy Federico Malvestiti Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 18 1'13.9 1'13.900 48.500
  Switzerland Gregoire Saucy France ART Grand Prix 6 12 laps    
  Israel Ido Cohen Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 1 17 laps    
  France Victor Martins France ART Grand Prix 1 17 laps    
  India Kush Maini Netherlands MP Motorsport 0 18 laps    
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