F3 Spain: Boya wins sprint race as Trident pair implode
Mari Boya, Campos Racing
Mari Boya topped the F3 podium for the first time, securing only his second career top-three finish in a relatively straightforward affair for the Campos driver after early contact between Santiago Ramos and Sami Meguetounif cleared the path for the Spaniard.
Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport) and Oliver Goethe (Campos) joined him on the top three, although the former's position remains provisional as he is subject to a post-race investigation for a false start.
Following a post-qualifying track limits penalty for Sebastian Montoya, Trident saw drivers Ramos and Meguetounif promoted to the front row. But any hope of victory disintegrated with an embarrassing third lap collision between the team-mates.
With DRS enabled at the start of the lap, Meguetounif had the run on Ramos, who was defending the inside line, into Turn 1. Despite space being left, Meguetounif took to the grass on the inside, lost control and was forced to retire with damage after the pair collided.
Ramos was able to recover to the pits with a puncture but rejoined at the back of the pack.
In the mayhem, Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing) and Callum Voisin (Rodin) also made contact at the same corner – both of whom retired. Both incidents are subject to a post-race investigation.
The beneficiary was home driver Boya, who led the way from Dunne and Goethe when action resumed on lap eight.
While all eyes had been on the action at the front, Montoya had made rapid progress, climbing from P27 to P15 by the time of the safety car. And this progress continued after the intervention, with Nikola Tsolov, Luke Browning and Christian Mansell all falling victim to the fast-charging Colombian by lap 13.
But this was all for nothing, when contact with Gabriele Mini (Prema) on lap 18 on the exit of Turn 4 as the lines of both drivers converged resulted in a right front puncture to the Prema, leaving Mini unable to avoid taking the pair into the gravel and out of the race.
At the front, Boya had survived an attack from Dunne after a period of tyre saving. There was now, however, an asterisk hanging over the on-track action as Dunne – along with Christian Mansell (ART), Bedrin, Charlie Wurz (Jenzer), Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (AIX Racing), Sophia Floersch (Van Amersfoort Racing), Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport) and Piotr Wisnicki (Rodin) – was under investigation for a false start.
With the clear-up unable to be completed within the 21-lap distance, the race finished behind the safety car, with Boya left unchallenged to claim his first F3 victory and become the ninth different winner from nine races on the 99th race in the category's history.
Despite his retirement, Mini retained his lead in the championship on 72 points, with Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) second three points back and Luke Browning (Hitech) third after failing to score in P12.