Nikoa Tsolov cruised to his fifth win in Formula 3 in the Monaco Feature Race, a new record for the series, dominating proceedings despite two late Safety Car deployments which threatened his progress.
The Campos man led from pole position and took victory at a canter, with Roman Bilinski second, and Mari Boya third, ensuring a Campos 1-3.
Callum Voisin was fourth, making it a 2-4 for Rodin, with Tim Tramnitz and Laurens van Hoepen fifth and sixth.
Tuukka Taponen came home in seventh, with Martinius Stenshorne eighth. Louis Sharp ensured a triple points finish for Rodin in ninth, as Alessandro Giusti completed the top 10.
At the start, Tsolov got away cleanly and covered off Bilinski, who, in turn, had to fend off Boya at Sainte Devote, the Campos taking avoiding action by cutting across the run-off.
Tsolov quickly broke away and gained enough of a lead to free himself from DRS, as his team-mate Boya continued to threaten and harry Bilinski for second place.
The Pole’s Rodin became as wide as possible to keep the Spaniard behind him, and eventually found some relief by pulling a second clear.
Boya was now in the clutches of Bilinksi’s team-mate Voisin, as further back, title-leader Rafael Camara was languishing down in 11th place, looking to strike past Stenshorne to work his way into the top 10.
But the Brazilian’s Trident started to fall away, leaving him in the clutches of Ugo Ugochukwu’s PREMA, but the American was also needing to deal with the charging Giusti, the Frenchman cutting the Nouvelle chicane after braking late in a desperate bid to take the position.
With Bilinski briefly working his way into DRS range on Lap 11, Tsolov responded by taking his Campos to another level, and with five laps, was now ahead by over four seconds.
Boya was not done quite yet, and remained within DRS range of Bilinski, but behind him, Voisin continued to press, the Brit looking keen for a second podium of the year.
Tsolov seemed to be in an extra gear, and to everyone else, an extra world, as he pulled a gap of nearly 10 seconds, but that advantage and hard work was completely nullified, as Noel Leon’s PREMA found the wall at Portier, bringing out the Safety Car.
It would stay out for just a brief time, but once it re-entered the pits, it would need to be deployed quickly after, with Charlie Wurz and Brando Badoer both out.
Wurz, who had prior front-wing damage and a deflating front right, crashed at Massenet, having surrendered sixth to Laurens van Hoepen on the previous lap.
Badoer was pointing the wrong way at Portier, another victim of the corner, and Tsolov’s hope of stretching out another lead were dashed.
Another couple of laps would pass before the Safety Car re-entered once again, with Tsolov retaining his lead, but amazingly, Trident had more to deal with, as after just losing Wurz, Camara would find himself limping back to the pits after his right rear detatched.
Tsolov would pull clear again, with Boya continuing to press Bilinski, but still fending off the advanaces of Voisin.
The Bulgarian cruised home with a seven second lead at the end to take his fifth F3 victory, with Bilinski and Boya retaining their second and third places.
