F3 Monaco: Mini claims maiden series win in feature race

The Hitech driver, who finished as runner-up to his Prema rival in last year’s Formula Regional European championship, took a lights-to-flag win for his first triumph in the series.

Having lined up on pole, Mini maintained his lead through the first safety-car restart before building a 1.4-second gap to Beganovic by lap 12 of 27.

The pair broke away from Paul Aron (Prema) and Hitech’s Luke Browning as they fought for third, with a 7s gap between second and third by lap 22.

Though Beganovic began closing the gap to the leader, halving it in the final eight laps, he was unable to get close enough to pass, with the Italian emerging victorious.

Aron sealed third for a Prema Racing 2-3, with 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Browning settling for fourth.

Leonardo Fornaroli stalled on the grid for Trident from 10th, while there was drama at Turn 1 as Taylor Barnard cut the chicane in his Jenzer-run car, receiving a 10s penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

The safety car was deployed after Ido Cohen crashed his Rodin Carlin car into the wall at Turn 12 ahead of Tabac.

Gabriele Mini, Hitech Grand Prix

Gabriele Mini, Hitech Grand Prix

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Racing resumed on lap six, with Mini quickly establishing a 1s lead over Beganovic before increasing it to 1.4s by lap 12, with 3s from the leader back to Aron.

Further back, Sebastian Montoya (Hitech) tussled with Caio Collet for fifth, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver running ahead and defending hard.

But the pair came together on lap 18, with Montoya suffering a broken front wing and Collet taking a puncture, forcing him to run on at Massenet and ending his race. Montoya received a 10s penalty for the incident and was last of the classified finishers.

Behind Browning in fourth, championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto secured fifth for Trident.

Franco Colapinto finished sixth for MP, with the third Prema-run machine of Zak O’Sullivan in seventh.

Barnard was eighth after his penalty, with Saturday sprint winner Pepe Marti (Campos Racing) and ART’s Gregoire Saucy rounding off the top 10.

F3 is due to return to action next weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Race result – 27 laps: