Pedro Clerot survived the chaos to take his maiden Formula 3 Feature Race victory around Madrid, with Taito Kato and Tuukka Taponen closing out the podium.
Kato was starting on pole position for the Feature with Clerot alongside him. Both drivers delivered impressive qualifying performances and hoped to turn their front-row starts into victories.
Kato had a clean start off the line, but Clerot had a better run into Turn 1, taking the lead of the race into the first corner.
However, further back through the pack, there was chaos as Enzo Deligny and Bruno Del Pino collided on the opening lap. The crash continued as drivers tried to avoid the collision. This caused a pile-up and brought out a Red Flag.
Six drivers were completely out of the race as a result of the incident. Deligny and Del Pino were out, and Gladysz, Garfias, Shin, and Barrichello were also unable to continue, but all were okay and out of the car.
While Nicola Lacorte survived the incident, he was then noted for speeding in the pit lane ahead of the restart.
Race restart
With the incident cleared, the field made its way back on track, and the running resumed under the Safety Car and then a rolling start. With overtaking proving difficult around the Madring, Clerot’s chances of claiming a win increased if he was clean on the restart.
Clerot led the field green and maintained his position with Kato close behind. As they came around La Monumental, the gap sat at just 0.4 seconds.
Clerot was able to break the DRS gap as the laps went on, building a lead of 1.2 seconds by Lap 4, giving himself a small buffer. From Tuukka Taponen in third, all the drivers held DRS to those in front, which only worsened overtaking.
Ugo Ugocukwu was holding a strong fourth place as the race unfolded, which would close the gap and put him and Slater equal on points into the final race.
Meanwhile, Slater was down in 15th, with 0.2 seconds between him and Hiyu Yamakoshi. The championship leader was desperately trying to find a space to overtake.
Alessandro Guisti and Ernesto Rivera were going wheel to wheel, with Rivera coming out in front into sixth place on the track.
Slater’s day went from bad to worse as he stopped on track after spinning across the track, with the TRIDENT driver bringing out a Safety Car.
Before the Safety Car came out, Nakamura and Ugochukwu went wheel to wheel, with Nakamura getting the better of the Campos driver until he ran wide over the kerbs and had to give the place back.
It was a short-lived Safety Car, with Clerot leading the field green once again on Lap 12. Kato settled for second as the Rodin driver quickly restarted.
Nael had a massive lock-up in Lap 13, barely avoiding the wall. He kept his Campos on track, but it was a close call for the Frenchman.
With three laps to go, Clerot held the gap at 1.2 seconds in his lead, with Kato behind but not challenging the Rodin driver. Taponen was running largely on his own in third.
Ugochukwu crossed the line in fourth, making it even on points in the championship fight heading into the final round. Nakamura was in fifth with Guisti, Powell, Rivera, Nael and Wharton completing the top ten.
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