In a thrilling race around the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Zak O’Sullivan took his first Feature Race win. 

During the closely fought battle, four drivers held the lead at various stages of the race. But at Lap 13, the Prema Driver took the lead and managed to hold his position. 

Bortoleto finished in P2 picking up some vital championship points. The Trident driver was able to strengthen his lead to 36 points. While Collet made back-to-back third place finishes for Van Amserfoot Racing. 

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Early Race Safety Car

After securing pole in Quali, Grégoire Saucy had a strong start. The ART driver managed to hold on to his position at lights out. However, just behind there was an early jostle for third between Bortoleto and Aron. Ultimately Bortoleto was able to hold off the Prema driver and retain his position. 

The aggressive driving continued further back in the pack which resulted in slight contact between Minì and Browning at turn 4. The incident was bad news for the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver who went flying across the gravel and was unable to continue the race. 

The incident prompted a Safety Car on Lap 2 which quickly closed gaps between the pack. 

The Fight For The Podium

Racing got back underway entering Lap 5 with Saucy working hard to build a small gap between himself and Beganovic who was close behind him. The Swiss driver was unable to escape the one- second DRS window. This gave an opportunity for Beganovic to get through into P1 on Lap 7 under braking at turn 4. 

Similar to Saucy, without DRS, Beganovic couldn’t break away from the pack and the top 5 were separated by less than two seconds. This made for some exciting racing and it wasn’t long before Paul Aron made a move. After making a dive down the inside of Bortoleto at turn 3, he took third position on Lap 10. 

On Lap 11 Aron attempted to make the same move on Saucy. The lack of room made this overtake impossible and the pair made contact. Luckily the contact was minor, but it did cause a puncture for the Swiss driver who was forced to pit and slipped down the pack. 

The attempted overtake and subsequent collision was not without consequence for Aron either. The Prema driver encountered front wing damage and fell behind Bortoleto and O’Sullivan to fourth. 

O’Sullivan Dominates The End Of The Race

As the race continued, the fight for P1 intensified. Going into turn 4 on Lap 13 Bortoleto slipstreamed past Beganovic to take the lead, while Aron was forced to pit for a new front wing. Fellow Prema driver, O’Sullivan had better luck and was the next driver to make a DRS pass, pushing Beganovic down to P3. 

The British driver wasn’t finished and launched down the inside of Bortoleto to take the lead of the race. Onto the final lap the top five were covered by just two seconds. Whilst O’Sullivan held his spot, there was last lap drama fighting for the final podium.

Colapinto got involved in the fight for a podium. The Argentinian driver made a sweep all the way around the outside of Beganovic to take third. Montoya and Colapinto were pushing hard for third position, with the two drivers side by side. An unexpected contact between the two at turn 6 allowed Collet to sneak through and snatch the third place podium.

“An amazing win, I didn’t expect that one. The pace was really good throughout, I think across the board tyre degradation was quite high, so I managed to get to the lead and then it was fighting to stay out front trying to stay out front and break the DRS every lap. Thanks to PREMA, the car was really good, and I think overall it’s been a positive weekend for us.”

Zac O’Sullivan

Just missing out on a podium after the collision with Montoya, Colapinto took fourth position and still managed to get some points. Just behind the Argentinian came Beganovic, who was ahead of Edgar, Mansell, Barter and Floersch, who captured PHM racing by Charouz’s first points in FIA Formula 3 from 20th on the grid. Montoya suffered after his collision and ended up in 10th.

Championship Standings

Bortoleto becomes the first driver to break 100 points this season and Trident’s driver tally of 111 points puts him 36 points clear of Beganovic in second place.

The unexpected, but welcome win, buts O’Sullivan in third overall, tied on 73 points with María Martí and two points behind his Prema racing teammate. Miní drops back to fifth in the standings with 65 points, ahead of Aron.

Prema Racing’s advantage at the top of the Team Champion extends by 43 points, with the Italian outfit on 213 to Tridents 170. Hitech Pulse-Eight remain third with 129 points.

Formula 3 is straight back in action next weekend for Round 7. For now, Bortoleto is leading the Driver’s Championship, but can any of his rivals catch up at Silverstone?

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