Noah Stromsted made a late move to take a commanding Formula 3 victory during the Austrian Feature Race, with Ugo Ugochukwu and Freddie Slater completing the podium.
Hiyu Yamakoshi was starting on pole with Ugo Ugochukwu alongside him on the stretch to Turn 1. Yamakoshi made a better start off the line, but it wasn’t a done deal as Ugochukwu kept on the gearbox and went around the outside into Turn 3, moving into the lead.
However, the fight was neutralised when a Safety Car was deployed for Maciej Galdysz and Yevan David after the two collided and were stranded on the track. Both drivers’ races were over.
On Lap 4, the action resumed with Ugochukwu leading the field to green while maintaining his position. Behind him, Yamakoshi was under pressure from Freddie Slater, who was all over the back of the Van Amersfoort Racing driver.
Slater fighting for first
Slater made a lunge on Yamakoshi, making it past the VAR and into second place. The TRIDENT driver is looking down the road to Ugochukwu. However, his challenge would have to wait as Fernando Barichello and Wooyun Shin made contact, which brought out a Virtual Safety Car.
Ugochukwu was under pressure on lap 9, with Slater closing in on the Campos driver out front. The DRS gave him a boost out to the left and sliding past Ugochukwu. Yamakoshi tried to take the opportunity to get past Ugochukwu as well, but was forced to settle for third.
Slater’s teammate was joining the fight for the podium in fourth place, his nose right on the gearbox of the VAR of Yamakoshi.
On lap 10, Yamakoshi made an impressive lunge on Ugochukwu, testing his late braking to take second place from the championship leader. The VAR driver wasn’t safe, though, with Ugochukwu back on the hunt just 0.2 seconds behind.
The top three were racing alongside each other with just 0.3s between each of them. Ugochukwu looked as if his car was struggling, falling back off Yamakoshi and bringing Noah Stromsted into contention for the podium.
Ugochukwu wasn’t giving up on second place as he closed the gap to Yamakoshi. The American driver lunged down the inside of the VAR driver and cleanly took second.
He set his sights on the lead with Slater pushing, trying to break the DRS to those fighting behind. However, as Ugochukwu moved into second, Slater wasn’t far enough down the road, and the Campos driver was closing quickly.
Slater had Ugochukwu alongside him on Lap 21 and Yamakoshi behind him, both drivers trying to take the lead. Slater was defending, holding steady throughout the early corners.
During the battle for the lead, Stromsted took the opportunity, diving down the inside of Yamakoshi and taking the final podium place. Slate managed to hold on to the lead, but Ugochukwu wasn’t going to give up the place.
Tense fight for the lead
On the next lap, the Campos driver was faster again, sweeping around the outside of Slater and switching to the inside of the opening corners. Ugochukwu took the lead.
On lap 23, Slater was back on Ugochukwu, wanting the lead back, and this time he also had his fellow TRIDENT close behind. Slater went side by side with the American, holding fast and braking late into the corner and taking the lead.
Stromsted took advantage of the move, slipping past Ugochukwu as well into second. Slater wasn’t home free as Stromsted wanted the victory from his team and was closing in. Stromsted moved to the outside and swept around his teammates, cleanly taking the lead.
In the final lap, the fight was between Slater and Ugochukwu, while Stromsted held the lead and pulled ahead. Ugochukwu and Slater fought tooth and nail through the final sequence of corners, but as Slater ran over a kerb in the final corners was forced to settle for third.
Stromsted crossed the line, taking his first Feature Race victory in F3 and his first win since Belgium last year. Ugochukwu took second, with Slater forced to settle for the final podium step.
Pedro Clerot made a late move for fourth on the road, with Jin Nakamura taking fifth. Taito Kato ended his battle sixth with Tukka Taponen behind in sixth.
Yamakoshi slipped in the final stage of the race and crossed the line eighth with Nicola Lacorte in ninth and Kanato Le rounding out the points scorers.
READ MORE: Formula 3 2026 Austrian GP – Feature Race Results
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