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F3 Monaco: Mini claims championship lead with feature win over Mansell

Prema driver Mini moved to the top of the F3 standings for the first time this year with his first victory of 2024, surviving several interruptions by the safety car to become a record-breaking eighth different winner from as many races this season.

The poleman made a slower getaway that second-placed Mansell (ART Grand Prix) but held his line through Sainte Devote and was able to manage proceedings therein.

Luke Browning (Hitech) remains second in the standings after finishing third, while pre-race championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli followed Arvid Linblad (Prema) home to finish fifth and drops to third in the points.

Just as was the case in Saturday’s sprint race, the safety car was summoned to the track before the end of lap one, with Piotr Wisnicki handed a 10 second penalty for assisting Charlie Wurz into the barrier at Portier.

The restart had seen some drivers get a little too close for comfort and Callum Voisin was fortunate to avoid the steward’s wrath after making contact with Tommy Smith into the Grand Hotel hairpin.

As the 27-lap race settled into a rhythm, overtaking was at a premium, with the top six on the grid (completed by Prema's Dino Beganovic) remaining in their starting positions to the flag.

But Rodin driver Joseph Loake proved the exception to the rule as he put a bold move on Mari Boya into Rascasse for seventh. This came after a career-best fifth place finish in the sprint race.

But the GB3 graduate struggled to pull clear of the Campos Racing driver and a lockup into the Nouvelle Chicane on lap 13 showed that the pressure was beginning to tell as he was forced to cut across the runoff.

Things took a turn on lap 20 at Mirabeau as sprint race winner Nikola Tsolov, Noel Leon and Sami Meguetounif ended up in the barriers, although the latter was the only driver that retired at the scene.

On entry to the corner, Tsolov's ART machine had made a bold lunge on Van Amersfoort Racing driver Leon but made contact and turned his rival around. Meguetounif was very much the innocent party as he arrived on the scene to find his path blocked.

For causing the incident, Tsolov was handed a 10 second penalty.

But within a lap of the latest restart, the safety car was called into action once more after Laurens van Hoepen ran his ART entry down the barriers at Tabac when fighting for ninth with Loake.

The action began again with just one lap remaining, but there was no further incident as the remaining drivers took the chequered flag with no fresh damage.

F3 Monaco Feature Race Results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1
G. Minì Prema Powerteam
2 27

-

      25   2
2
C. Mansell ART Grand Prix
23 27

+0.800

0.8

0.800     18    
3
L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight
14 27

+1.700

1.7

0.900     15   1
4
A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam
3 27

+2.100

2.1

0.400     12    
5
L. Fornaroli Trident
4 27

+2.600

2.6

0.500     10    
6
D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam
1 27

+3.000

3.0

0.400     8    
7
M. Boya Campos Racing
12 27

+4.800

4.8

1.800     6    
8
T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport
7 27

+5.200

5.2

0.400     4    
9
J. Loake Rodin Motorsport
31 27

+6.600

6.6

1.400     2    
10
O. Goethe Campos Racing
10 27

+8.000

8.0

1.400     1    
11
K. Sztuka MP Motorsport
8 27

+8.400

8.4

0.400          
12
T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing
22 27

+8.900

8.9

0.500          
13
C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport
29 27

+9.300

9.3

0.400          
14
S. Ramos Trident
6 27

+10.900

10.9

1.600          
15 Colombia S. Montoya Campos Racing 11 27

+11.300

11.3

0.400          
16
A. Dunne MP Motorsport
9 27

+12.000

12.0

0.700          
17
M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport
18 27

+12.400

12.4

0.400          
18
T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing
26 27

+13.400

13.4

1.000          
19 Germany S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing 21 27

+13.600

13.6

0.200          
20
J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing
28 27

+14.000

14.0

0.400          
21
C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight
16 27

+15.200

15.2

1.200          
22
J. Hedley Jenzer Motorsport
19 27

+15.900

15.9

0.700          
23
N. León Van Amersfoort Racing
20 27

+17.300

17.3

1.400          
24
N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing
27 27

+17.500

17.5

0.200          
25
P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport
30 27

+20.600

20.6

3.100          
26
M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight
15 27

+26.400

26.4

5.800          
27
N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix
25 27

+28.500

28.5

2.100          
dnf
L. Van ART Grand Prix
24 22

5 laps

        Accident  
dnf
S. Meguetounif Trident
5 19

8 laps

        Retirement  
dnf
C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport
17 26

 

        Accident  
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