The Austrian round of the Formula 3 started in the best way for Nikola Tsolov, who won the first race of the weekend on Saturday after a three-way battle.
Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech Pulse-Eight) took pole position but lost his position to Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix) in the first corner. In an attempt to regain the lead, the Norwegian widened his trajectory in turn three, allowing Tsolov (ART Grand Prix) to overtake him.
Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport) stopped on the track on the first lap, causing a safety car. Action resumed on the fifth lap, with Mansell remaining in the lead. However, on the seventh lap, Tsolov took advantage of the DRS to overtake his teammate in turn four, taking an outside line.
The battle continued after that maneuver, with position changes between the two drivers on more than one occasion. On the 17th lap, Tsolov took the lead for good, while Mansell exited turn four slower and gave Stenshorne the chance to move up to second in turn five.
A fight for fourth place ended in the worst way, with Sebastián Montoya (Campos Racing) colliding with Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport) in an accident that required a safety car. The neutralization ended to restart the race on the final lap.
Tsolov didn’t succumb to the pressure from his rivals and secured the victory with a 0.673s lead over Stenshorne, with Mansell in third. Dunne and Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix) completed the top five. Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), the championship leader, could only manage 12th place.
Results:
