Ivan Domingues led home a 1-2 for Van Amersfoort Racing after winning the Formula 3 Sprint Race in Spain, ahead of his team-mate Santiago Ramos.
From sixth on the grid, the 19-year-old cruised home for victory after the race leaders collided on a dramatic opening lap.
Ramos finished second, while Nikola Tsolov secured third, earning crucial points for his championship campaign — especially with title rival Rafael Camara out on Lap 1.
Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski started the Sprint from pole position after the race officials reinstated his fastest qualifying lap.
The Polish driver had initially posted a time that placed him 12th, but it was deleted for allegedly exceeding track limits, costing him a reverse grid pole, which then went to ART’s James Wharton.
However, upon review, the stewards concluded that Bilinski had not gone fully off-track, restoring his lap time and his place at the front of the grid.
Lining up alongside him on the front row was Martinius Stenshorne of Hitech and Tim Tramnitz in third for MP Motorsport.
Two drivers were making their debuts in the junior series: the Mexican duo of Jesse Carrasquedo, replacing Josh Dufek at Hitech, and Jose Garfias stepping in for James Hedley.
Chaos ensues as race leaders collide
The 21-lap Sprint got underway as Bilinski made a good start, but Stenshorne and Tramnitz both entered the slipstream as the trio went three wide into Turn 1.
At Turn 2, as the Rodin driver attempted a move around the outside, Tramnitz made contact with Stenshorne on the inside.
The collision unsettled the Norwegian driver, causing him to career into Bilinski and send both into the barriers, ending their races on the opening lap.
Tramnitz sustained suspension damage and veered off near Turn 3 before pulling off to the side of the track.
There was more drama at the race start, as Tukka Taponen failed to get away cleanly and was rear-ended by Camara.
Both cars suffered heavy damage, forcing an early retirement for both drivers.
The Safety Car was called into action to clear all five cars, with the top four all out of the race, as well as the Brazilian title contender.
Amongst the drama that unfolded, Domingues inherited the race lead – the Portuguese had never scored points before in the series, let alone step on the podium.
Stromsted moved up to second, with Laurens van Hoepen in third, Ramos fourth, and Tsolov in fifth.
Domingues maintains race lead at restart
The Safety Car peeled back into the pits ahead of Lap 6, as the racing resumed with Domingues holding onto his lead at the start.
Making moves at the restart, Alessandro Giusti moved up from 10th to eighth, passing his MP Motorsport team-mate Bruno del Pino and Noel Leon in the Prema Racing car.
Wharton and Theophile Nael were both on course to score points, both occupying sixth and seventh after the Lap 1 drama, respectively.
Ramos made a decisive lunge into Turn 1 on Lap 9 to take the final podium position away from van Hoepen.
On Lap 12, Nael and Wharton went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, making slight contact as the Frenchman ran wide.
He followed the race director’s instructions by rejoining around the bollards, but he kept the position ahead of the ART driver.
Tsolov took fourth from van Hoepen on the next lap, setting his sights on Ramos ahead.
Home favourites del Pino and Mari Boya fought closely on Lap 15, the Campos driver diving down the inside into Turn 5 for 10th place.
Soon after, Boya took ninth from Leon before passing Wharton for eighth on Lap 17.
At the same time, the gap out at the front between Domingues and Stromsted finally came under a second – the Mercedes junior reducing the lead the VAR driver had built.
However, disaster struck for Stromsted as he began to slow dramatically through Turns 13 and 14, forcing Ramos to take to the gravel to avoid the slow-moving Trident car.
He peeled into the pits with an apparent mechanical failure, his hopes dashed.
This gave Domingues an easy cruise to the finish line to claim his first points, podium and win in F3 all in one race.
Ramos finished second in the other VAR car ahead of Tsolov in third, who started from 11th place at the start.
Van Hoepen crossed the line in fourth, Nael fifth, Giusti sixth and Boya in seventh, scoring four points at his home circuit.
Wharton ended the race in eighth place, ahead of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in ninth and Leon completing the top 10.
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