Leclerc takes first Formula 3 win with lights-to-flag drive

Formula 3

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Arthur Leclerc won today’s second Formula 3 race at Paul Ricard, leading every lap from pole position.

The Prema driver secured the leading place on the grid by battling from 30th to 12th during the morning’s 20-lap race. He was joined on the front row by Red Bull junior Jak Crawford, with Leclerc’s Prema team mates Olli Caldwell and Dennis Hauger immediately behind them.

Crawford stalled at the start, and was fortunate not to be hit as all bar one of the remaining 28 cars got going. Caio Collet also stalled, and unlike Crawford was unable to get going again.

While the Prema trio pulled away Victor Martins, who started 11th, passed Logan Sargeant on the opening lap for 10th. Another series of improvements saw the home racer, who was narrowly denied victory in the morning race, climb to sixth by the end of lap two.

The only collision of the race was between HWA’s Rafael Villagomez and Carlin Buzz Racing’s Ido Cohen, Villagomez being pushed off the track. Cohen said on the radio afterwards that he had finger pain after the hit. His grief was exacerbated when the stewards handed him a 10-second penalty for causing the incident.

Martins was able to make the move for his second podium of the day, passing Caldwell on lap 19 to take third from his 11th-placed start. On the same lap, he set fastest lap with a 1’52.419 to take another two points.

The untroubled Leclerc took the chequered flag, followed by Hauger in a Prema one-two finish. With Martins closing out the podium, the other points finishers were Caldwell, Jack Doohan, Clement Novalak, Alex Smolyar, Calan Williams, Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti.

Hauger and Martins both scored 12 points in the race, meaning they both continue to run on equal numbers at the start of the championship, on 48 points apiece. Vesti will start on pole for race three tomorrow.

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Formula 3 race two results

PositionCarDriverTeam
12Arthur LeclercPrema
21Dennis HaugerPrema
317Victor MartinsMP
43Olli CaldwellPrema
54Jack DoohanTrident
65Clement NovalakTrident
78Alexander SmolyarART
826Calan WilliamsJenzer
911Ayumu IwasaHitech
107Frederik VestiART
116David SchumacherTrident
1229Logan SargeantCharouz
1314Matteo NanniniHWA
1410Jak CrawfordHitech
1521Lorenzo ColomboCampos
1620Pierre-Louis ChovetCampos
179Juan Manuel CorreaART
1830Enzo FittipaldiCharouz
1919Tijmen van der HelmMP
2012Roman StanekHitech
2115Oliver RasmussenHWA
2224Kaylen FrederickCarlin
2325Jonny EdgarCarlin
2422Amaury CordeelCampos
2531Reshad De GerusCharouz
2627Johnathan HoggardJenzer
2716Rafael VillagomezHWA
2828Filip-Ioan UgranJenzer
2923Ido CohenCarlin
3018Caio ColletMP

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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3 comments on “Leclerc takes first Formula 3 win with lights-to-flag drive”

  1. Very happy for him! After the bad luck in qualifying, he did an amazing job to get from P30 to P12 in the first race and just controlled the second race from the front. Great job!

    1. Maybe he should coach charles. Charles had no speed at all today.

  2. Victor Martins continues to impress. Hopefully this is the year a non-Prema driver can win the title.

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