It was just after noon when the five red lights went out to kick off the first Sprint Race of the Form 3, with the Argentine franc Colapinto in pole position ready to win his first race of the year. However, the MP Motorsport driver had to defend himself tooth and nail against a fantastic Josep Martì, who managed to take the first position away from him on the fourteenth lap on the Sakhir circuit. Third Caius Collet with Van Amersfoort.
Marti grabs the victory
Colapinto starts well from the first square, reaching the first corner, where he finds the driver number #23, Martì, fierce and ready to take the lead of the race. In the duel in the first corner, Colapinto has the upper hand, while the opportunity opens up for Collet to overtake Martì. The number #10 maintains its position even after the two restarts when the Safety Car went off the track on laps 7 and 11.
While Colapinto gets used to the free track in front of him, Martì begins to make his way towards the first place, recovering in turn 4 the second position that Collet had occupied. On lap 12, the Campos Racing driver approaches Colapinto, who however defends himself admirably. However, when the DRS is usable, Martì catches up with his opponent in turn 1 and again in turn 4 where he manages to bring home an exceptional overtaking that allowed him to be crowned first on the podium!
Confusion between the Safety Car and many penalties
The first yellow flag of the Formula 3 Sprint Race was caused by a contact in turn 4 between Rafael Villagòmez and Gabriel Bortoleto, which caused the Mexican driver of Van Amersfoort Racing to crash. As if that weren't enough, the unfortunate Bortoleto found himself involved in a second contact with Kaylen Frederik. The ART GP single-seater suffered a puncture to the right front wheel, resolved with the pit stop which took place under the Safety Car regime, which however was not enough for Frederik to regain the lost positions. The second yellow flag of the day was instead caused by Luke Browning going off the track in turn 2.
Rain of penalties under the Bahrain sun, the first assigned to Nikola Tsolov for breaking the starting procedure. The same fate befell the Jender Motorsport driver, Alejandro Garcia. 5 second penalty for the Pole Piotr Wisnicki, who did not respect the Virtual Safety Car.
Not great for tomorrow's pole sitter, Gabriele Minì, who after a bad start from twelfth place finds himself twenty-sixth. Excellent points achieved by Prema's teammates, Dino Beganovic and Paul Aaron, who finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The reverse grid overturned yesterday's qualifying, allowing us to watch pure entertainment, let's hope this happens too tomorrow with the Feature Race!
