Noah Stromsted delivered a commanding performance to claim his maiden Formula 3 victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Danish driver led comfortably after taking the race lead early on, building a huge gap to take the chequered flag with ease, marking a breakthrough moment in his F3 career.
Behind Stromsted, Ugo Ugochukwu finished second and Charlie Wurz took third to round out the podium — both drivers securing their maiden top-three finishes in the junior series.
Freddie Slater started from pole position for the Sprint Race after qualifying 12th, benefiting from the reversed-grid format in his Hitech debut. Lining up alongside him on the front row was Stromsted for Trident.
Championship leader Rafael Camara began the race from 11th, sharing the sixth row with Sunday’s polesitter, Brad Benavides.
Among Camara’s closest title rivals, Tim Tramnitz started 13th, Nikola Tsolov lined up sixth, and Mari Boya was further back in 16th.
Stromsted takes the lead on Lap 2
At lights out, all 30 cars surged down the short run to Turn 1, with Freddie Slater managing to retain his lead from Noah Stromsted as battles broke out throughout the midfield.
Championship leader Rafael Camara made early progress, gaining two positions to move into 10th, while Ugochukwu also climbed the order, advancing to sixth.
On Lap 2, Stromsted capitalised on a strong run down the Kemmel Straight to overtake Slater and seize the race lead.
By Lap 4, Ugochukwu continued his charge, moving his Prema up into podium contention. Using the slipstream to full effect, he swiftly dispatched Bruno del Pino and Wurz.
Tramnitz found himself down in 18th place on Lap 6, Benavides dropping to 16th and Callum Voisin to 13th place.
Boya clawed his way into the top 10, running just behind Camara in ninth. Ahead of them, the Spaniard’s Campos team-mates, Tsolov and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, occupied eighth and seventh respectively.
On Lap 7, Ugochukwu continued his charge toward the front, overtaking Slater at the end of the main straight to move into second place.
Del Pino was rapidly losing ground, falling from third on the grid to eighth, as Wurz, Stenshorne, Inthraphuvasak, and Tsolov each moved up a position.
Slater also began to fade, with Wurz claiming third on Lap 8 to secure the final spot on the podium.
With four laps to go, Stromsted looked firmly on course for victory, holding a commanding five-second lead over Ugochukwu.
Mercedes junior clinches first F3 victory at Spa
By Lap 9, Slater’s struggles continued as he slipped to seventh, overtaken by Stenshorne, Tsolov, and Camara.
The title contenders quickly dispatched Stenshorne on the following lap, while Slater fell further down the order to 10th.
Meanwhile, Boya —running in eighth — was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits and was also placed under investigation for a collision with Benavides, compounding a difficult day for his championship hopes.
Heading into the final lap, Wurz was clinging on for the final podium position from Tsolov behind.
However, Stromsted crossed the line for victory in the Sprint Race ahead of Ugochukwu and Wurz — both claiming their maiden podium finishes in F3.
Just behind the podium finishers, Tsolov crossed the line in fourth, edging out title rival Camara in fifth to claw back a single point in the championship battle.
Inthraphuvasak came home sixth, followed by Stenshorne in seventh and del Pino in eighth.
Brando Badoer secured ninth and Slater finished 10th but received four five-second penalties for track limit violations, handing Alessandro Giusti the final point of the Sprint.
READ MORE — Brad Benavides snatches maiden F3 pole position after chaotic Spa qualifying
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