Taito Kato took the Sprint Race victory, and celebrated his maiden win at the Formula 3 Italian GP.
After a relativley calm qualifying session on Friday, the F3 grid was set. However, as the post-qualifying penalties hit the grid shifted. Matteo De Palo’s car was found to breach the technical infringement and thus hit with disqualification post-qualifying.
Brando Badoer was starting the race on reverse grid pole and was joined on the front row by Pedro Clerot. Championship leader Freddie Slater took a stunning pole in qualifying and lined up 12th for the Sprint. After an unfortunate qualifying, and being hit with a five-place grid drop for a collision in Practice, Ugo Ugochukwu began the Sprint all the way back in 23rd.
Badoer made a strong launch off the line, but was closely followed by Clerot who had a solid start as well. Badoer was soon forced to defend from Tuukka Taponen behind, but managed to keep the lead.
Further back, several drivers suffered lock ups while Mattia Colnaghi ran wide. Slater attempted to get past Bruno del Pino and barley avoided contact as del Pino locked up.
Down to Parabolica Badoer ran wide, which gave an open opportunity for Clerot to take the lead from him. Meanwhile the MP teammates almost had contact as Alessandro Giusti failed to make a leap on Taponen ahead. Colnaghi cut through the chicane with another big lock up.
The fight at the front heated up as the grid reached the new DRS zone. Taponen made a great move to take second from Badoer before drama hit. As Giusti roared ahead and ultimately became the new race leader, Fernando Barrichello ran off the track as Badoer squeezed him onto the grass. The AIX driver rejoined in the middle of the pack, causing a massive hit and losing his tyre.
Barrichello was forced to retire after the incident and the first Safety Car of the 18 lap Sprint had been deployed on Lap 5.
Restarts and yellow flags
Giusti made a great restart as the rest of the pack was closely bunched together behind. The yellow flags were out on the first lap after the restart as Maciej Gladysz tumbled down the order.
Chaos hit the middle of the pack as Noah Stromsted went into the back of Jose Garfias, and Gladysz suffered the hit. Gladysz came to a stop on the side of the track and triggered the Virtual Safety Car. Before the incident, there was another big lock up from Colnaghi.
Upon restart, Clerot fought hard for an opportunity to take the lead from Giusti. But with pressure from Kato behind, the task was not easy from the MP driver. The pack continued to battle as Hiyu Yamakoshi and Ernesto Rivera went side by side. Yamakoshi continued his strong drive with a great overtake down the outside of Kato.
Drama continued as smoke came from Clerot’s car. The mechanical failure turned a great day into bad fortune for Clerot. What could have been a podium finish turned into an unfortunate retirement. Soon after, a massisve incident occurred. The DAMS of Gerrard Xie flew across the corner, into the side of Woohyun Shin and then into the barrier, taking them both out of the race. The scary incident led to another Safety Car being deployed.
Meanwhile, the two championship rivals kept making their way through the field. Slater had already climbed up to fifth while Ugochukwu had made his way to 16th. Badoer was hit with a 5-second time penalty for a Safety Car infringement.
With the pack bunched up once again, they were ready for another restart. 13 laps out of the 18 laps were completed as Giustu made a solid restart. Rivera tried to make a move on Kato as the duo ended up side by side. But with Slater lurking behind with the power of a tow, he took the position from Rivera, placing himself fourth.
Final moments of the Sprint
Although he began all the way back in 28th, the day turned brighter for Theophile Nael. The Campos driver had made his way into 10th place and thus stormed into the points on Lap 15. He made a brave move down the inside of James Wharton to secure the position.
Meanwhile, the Sprint was unfortunate for Taponen as he headed into the pits.
At the front, Kato took the lead from Giusti on Lap 16. Soon after, Slater saw his opportunity and tried to grab the position off Giusti. He forced Slater onto the grass but the championship leader remained determined as he dove around the outside. After the overtake on Giusti Slater was into the podium positions in third.
The pack was bunched close together with only one lap to go. The opportunity for a podium, and even the victory, was still up for grabs until the very last moments. The final corner saw Yevan David with a strong move to take fourth from Giusti.
As the final moments trickled down, Kato defended his position brilliantly and stormed across the chequered flag to take his maiden victory. While he began fifth, his strong drive and great defending lead him to his first Formula 3 win.
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