Marti passes Colapinto to win exhilarating Formula 3 season-opener in Bahrain

Pepe Marti won the opening round of the 2023 Formula 3 championship after an exhilarating race which had two Safety Cars in Bahrain.

The F3 sophomore, who started the sprint race in second, sealed the victory with an overtake around the outside of turn four on Franco Colapinto on lap 14.

The two drivers were joined on the podium by Caio Collet after a sprint race which saw two Safety car interventions within the first seven laps.

Ahead of F3’s fifth season over half the 30-car grid – 17 drivers – were making their first start in the category.

When the lights went out, Colapinto reacted quickly from his line and fended off Marti’s move around the outside of turn one to keep the lead. Marti’s overtaking attempt lost him a position, however, as a poor exit from the opening corner then allowed Collet to clinch second around the outside of turn two.

But having built up a half-a-second advantage after the opening lap, Colapinto’s lead was brought back to zero because of a Safety Car triggered by a collision between Rafael Villagomez and Luke Browning.

Heading into turn seven on the second lap, Villagomez cut across Browning to defend 12th. The two collided and the Van Amersfoort driver spun into the barriers.

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Browning’s race didn’t last much longer, as when the race went green again for lap seven the rookie was hit from the back at turn one and spun out of the race.

Amid the chaos, Marti had regained second after a back-and-forth battle with Collet, while Kaylen Frederick was hit at turn 10 which gave him a rear-right puncture.

The Safety Car was issued again before a full tour of the circuit, with the race restarting on lap 12 – two laps before Marti completed his race-winning overtake on Colapinto.

Having kept within a second of the MP Motorsport driver from the restart, Marti used DRS to get alongside heading into turn four before sealing his overtake around the outside of the corner.

The Campos Racing driver quickly extended his lead to clinch the victory but there was late action elsewhere. On the penultimate lap, Dino Beganovic overtook Paul Aron for fourth with a move on the outside of turn seven.

Oliver Goethe came home in sixth, ahead of Gregoire Saucy, Leonardo Fornaroli and Jonny Edgar, with Sebastian Montoya claiming the final point position in tenth. Gabriele Mini, who will start tomorrow’s feature race from pole position, came 20th in the season-opener.

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Formula 3 Bahrain race one results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	23	Pepe Martí	Campos
2	10	Franco Colapinto	MP
3	17	Caio Collet	Van Amersfoort
4	2	Dino Beganovic	Prema
5	1	Paul Aron	Prema
6	6	Oliver Goethe	Trident
7	8	Gregoire Saucy	ART
8	4	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident
9	12	Jonny Edgar	MP
10	14	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech
11	25	Hugh Barter	Campos
12	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident
13	3	Zak O’Sullivan	Prema
14	24	Christian Mansell	Campos
15	27	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer
16	11	Alexander Smolyar	MP
17	26	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer
18	15	Gabriele Minì	Hitech
19	22	Ido Cohen	Rodin Carlin
20	21	Hunter Yeany	Rodin Carlin
21	20	Oliver Gray	Rodin Carlin
22	29	Sophia Floersch	PHM Racing by Charouz
23	19	Tom Smith	Van Amersfoort
24	30	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing by Charouz
25	31	Piotr Wiśnicki	PHM Racing by Charouz
26	9	Nikola Tsolov	ART
27	28	Alejandro García	Jenzer
28	7	Kaylen Frederick	ART
29	16	Luke Browning	Hitech
30	18	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort

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