In a dramatic opening race of the weekend, it was Hiyu Yamakoshi who navigated the chaos to claim his first Formula 3 victory in Monaco.
The VAR driver secured victory by a margin of just one second, ahead of his rivals Gerrard Xie and Bruno Del Pino, who rounded out the podium. Further back, it was Pedro Clerot and Alessandro Guisti who completed the top five in an eventful race in the principality.
As the drivers lined up for the Sprint Race, Yamakoshi and Xie made up an inexperienced front row. Behind the front pair was Clerot, and Melbourne podium sitter Del Pino. As seen in Monaco, a good getaway is crucial to avoid early-race chaos.
Lights out around Monaco
As the five lights went out for the first time in three months, Yamakoshi and Xie had an even start off the line; however, the Japanese driver’s grid spot advantage gave him the lead into Turn 1. Behind the front pair, drivers behind took to a new racing line, in an attempt to avoid their rivals. This caused several drivers to gain places off the track.
As the first lap progressed, chaos ensued down at the hairpin. The midfield, which was running extremely close to one another, bunched up, causing several clashes between drivers. Notably, Brad Benavides and Christian Ho made contact with each other, prematurely ending their Sprint Race, and bringing out the Safety Car.
Meanwhile, Brando Badoer and Tuuka Tapponen stop elsewhere on the circuit, with damage sustained to their cars following the incidents. With several drivers stopped on the track, the FIA decided to red flag the session.
As the drivers made their way back to the pits, both Taito Kato and James Wharton had dropped to the back of the field, following a pit stop. The pair made contact with one another in the early drama; however, they continued in the session.
Under the red flag, the top five were Yamakoshi, Xie, Clerot, Del Pino and Alessandro Giusti.
Green flag conditions resume
After a prolonged Red Flag break, drivers prepared for a rolling start to resume racing around Monte Carlo. As the drivers made their way back onto the circuit, Clerot was informed by his engineer to let Del Pino through in order to avoid a penalty.
As the Safety Car peeled into the pit lane, Yamakoshi led the field away yet again. The Japanese driver aced the restart, keeping his lead out front. However, Xie was close behind, challenging his rookie rival for victory.
After a small mistake from Xie, he found himself almost a second away from the lead of the race. Importantly, he was also now under pressure from Yamakoshi’s teammate, Del Pino. The Spaniard was chasing a second consecutive 1-2 finish for Van Amersfoort Racing.
Further back in the field, chaos ensued once more with three cars coming together at the hairpin. Théophile Naël, Freddie Slater and Ernesto Rivera collided; however, they were all able to keep their cars running and continue racing. The Safety Car was quickly brought back in, leaving Yamakoshi in control once more.
The race resumed with fourteen minutes remaining in the session, and the VAR driver took the field away once more, yet again keeping his lead over Xie and Del Pino behind.
Tomorrow’s pole sitter, Naël, who was involved in the collision earlier, made a pitstop, demoting him to last in the standings. The bad news continued for another member of tomorrow’s top three, as Slater received a 10-second time penalty for the collision.
10 minutes remained in the session, as Yamakoshi’s lead extended to a second ahead of his DAMS rival behind.
VSC came out with seven minutes remaining, but the VSC was short-lived as marshals cleared the small piece of debris from the track.
With just three and a half minutes remaining in the Sprint, the gaps at the front were closing. Xie was just within the DRS range of Yamakoshi at the front of the field.
Del Pino felt pressure from Clerot behind in the final stages, the duo nearly touching, but the two avoided contact, and Del Pino managed to hold on to his podium place.
Yamakoshi took his maiden F3 victory, with Xie and Del Pino finishing on the podium. Clerot and Guisti rounded out the top five, while Noah Stromsted, Ugo Ugochukwu, and Jin Nakamura took the final points playing positions.
The Feature race tomorrow is where the bigger points lie, and those who can avoid the chaos of Monaco will take huge steps in the championship fight.
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