Prema driver Dino Beganovic jumped team-mate Gabriele Mini and polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli to take the win in Formula 3’s Australian Grand Prix Feature race.
Fornaroli remained out of trouble going into Turn 1 and kept the lead of the race in the opening stages, while the Prema drivers maintained positions two and three.
However, an incident between Joseph Loake and Tommy Smith that ended with both cars in the gravel on the second lap prompted the Safety Car’s introduction.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak also brushed the barrier into Turn 2 but managed to continue as the field packed back during the Safety Car period.
Upon the restart, Luke Browning attacked Nikita Bedrin into Turn 4 and Arvid Lindblad quickly followed him through Turn 5 to relegate the PHM AIX driver to sixth.
Campos drivers Mari Boya and Oliver Goethe duelled over seventh, with the German sweeping into Turn 4 to take the place before trying to attack Bedrin right after.
While attempting to secure sixth place on Lap 8, though, Goethe had an excursion into the gravel and dropped behind his team-mate on the road once again.
Fornaroli had remained in first up until Lap 10 when Mini crept to within DRS range and began to put the leader under pressure, with Beganovic also maintaining pace.
The Swedish driver would overhaul his team-mate three laps later and set his sights on Fornaroli 1.3 seconds ahead, while Browning demoted Mini back to fourth.
On Lap 14, Beganovic took the lead from Fornaroli for the first time in the race with a move into the inside of Turn 9 that was enough to move ahead of the Trident.
Behind the top three, Boya and Montoya passed Bedrin to place their respective Campos machines fifth and sixth, with Goethe having dropped back to 10th place.
One lap later, Montoya made a successful lunge on Boya, who also lost a position to Wurz, who was sustaining a spectacular comeback drive from 14th on the grid.
Degradation had transpired to be a notable issue as the race wore on, with Lindblad plummeting through the order to drop from fifth on Lap 11 to ninth in two laps.
Beganovic was also encountering trouble with graining, preventing him from being able to extend his lead over Fornaroli, who still had DRS with three laps to go.
Heading into the penultimate tour, Mini recovered to break into the podium places with a pass on the outside of Browning into the popular overtaking spot of Turn 9.
Despite concerns over his rubber, Beganovic held on to secure his maiden F3 win in his sophomore campaign, with Fornaroli and Mini completing the rostrum places.
Browning ended up fourth ahead of rookie Wurz, Montoya and Bedrin, who overtook Goethe on the final lap to take eighth. Mansell took the final point on home soil for ART.
This meant a great result for the Prema team, with two drivers on the podium and just missing out on a triple-points finish, as Lindblad saw the chequered flag in eleventh.
Campos achieved what Prema couldn’t, scoring a very important triple points finish with its drivers Montoya, Boya and Goethe ending the race in sixth, seventh and ninth.
Discussion about this post