James Wharton took an important victory for PREMA in the Barcelona-Catalunya Sprint Race with Freddie Slate close on his tail and Gerrard Xie finishing off the Formula 3 podium.
Xie was starting on pole for the sprint race after qualifying 12th for the Sunday Feature Race. Alongside him was Wharton, both drivers hoping to hold the lead into turn one.
It was a disaster for Tiato Kato, who was starting in fourth, as the ART driver stalled on the grid and was forced to start from the pit lane. Mattia Colnaghi joined him as he filtered into the pit lane during the formation lap.
Xie led from the lights
Xie had a strong start off the line, holding onto his lead, but Wharton pushed his PREMA machinery around the outside of the DAMS Lucas Oil car. Close to getting ahead, but Xie is squeezing the PREMA car and holding onto the lead.
Slater saw an opportunity at Wharton, going side by side into Turns 3 and 4, making it up into second place.
On lap 3, Xie broke DRS, putting a gap of 1.5 between him and Slater. Wharton was on the gearbox of Slater, looking to reclaim second place, and he made a dive on the TRIDENT driver, moving up a position.
A Yellow Flag was brought out as Jose Garfias was moving slowly on track, the PREMA presumably picking up damage after fighting with Colnaghi, who returned to the pit lane for the second time in the Sprint race.
Wharton took the lead in Lap 5, Xie struggling for pace into the first corner as the PREMA driver swept around the outside of the DAMS driver. Xie’s tyres were struggling as he began to fall back into Slater’s front wing.
It was a disaster for Enresto Rivera, who stopped on the track to get out of the way, but the incident still brought out a Virtual Safety Car. Rivera’s engine just is not responding, leaving the Red Bull junior out of the Barcelona Sprint.
Importantly, Slater made it past Xie just before the VSC, securing his second place. On lap 8, the VSC became a full Safety Car, bunching up the grid once again.
Wharton led the field to green on Lap 10, going early, but Slater was quick on the back of the PREMA. Luckily for Wharton, the TRIDENT didn’t have DRS on the first lap green, but on the next lap, he did.
Ugochukwu spun
Further down the field, Kato was making moves through the grid, breezing past Jin Nakumara, moving into 22nd. The result impressive for the ART driver who began the race from the pit lane.
Ugo Ugochukwu was fighting side by side with Enzo Deligny, the Campos driver sweeping around the outside on Turn 3. Ugochukwu went off the racing line, picking up rubber and spinning into the gravel.
The championship leader is out of the race, and another Safety Car was brought out. Ugochukwu’s DNF opened the opportunity for Slater to take the championship lead, but only if he was able to get ahead of Wharton.
The Safety Car came in on lap 16, with Wharton leading the pack. Wharton put his foot down coming into Turn 12, but he had Slater with his as he went green. While Slater closed on to the back of Wharton, his teammate Matteo de Palo made contact with Pedro Clerot and went spinning on the track.
He was able to get going again, but was last in the order.
Slater kept within Wharton’s DRS with the gap just 0.6s. However, it was just Wharton who was under pressure as Xie looked to settle into a stronger pace than before. On Lap 20, Slater lost DRS. The TRIDENT driver under pressure from Xie and Tukka Taponen behind.
Xie looked around the outside into Turn 1 with Slate aggressively defending from the DAM’s driver. Xie then found himself alongside Taponen, the two nearly making contact as they ran wide in Turn 4. Taponen took third place but ran wide, forcing the Ferrari junior to give it back.
Wharton crossed the line to take the Sprint Win and marked PREMA’s first victory since 2024. Behind him, Slater crossed the line second, and Xie close behind. Taponen settled for fourth with Deligny further down the road in fifth. Bruno Del Pino, Hiyu Yamakoshi and Theophile Nael rounded out the points scorers.
Nael starts on pole position for the Feature Race tomorrow.
READ MORE: Formula 3 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP – Sprint Race Results
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