Mari Boya climbed to the top of the F3 podium for the first time in a relatively easy sprint race for the Campos driver after an accident between Santiago Ramos and Sami Meguetounif made things easier for the Spaniard at home.
Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport) and Oliver Goethe (Campos) joined him on the podium, although the former’s position remains provisional as he is subject to a post-race investigation for a false start.
After a track limits penalty for Sebastián Montoya, the Trident drivers, Ramos and Meguetounif, were placed on the front row of the grid, but their hopes of victory disintegrated after an embarrassing collision on the third lap.
With the DRS on the finish line, Meguetounif overtook Ramos, who was defending the inside line in turn 1. Despite the space he left, Meguetounif went to the grass when he dived on the inside after losing control and was seen forced to withdraw due to damages suffered.
Ramos was able to return to the pits with a puncture, but rejoined the track at the back of the pack.
In the midst of the chaos, Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing) and Callum Voisin (Rodin) They also collided on that same curve and both abandoned.Both incidents will be investigated after the race.
The beneficiary of these touches was the Spanish pilot, Mari Boyawho took the lead ahead of Dunne and Goethe when the action resumed on lap eight.
While all eyes were on the action at the front, Montoya rallied, with Nikola Tsolov, Luke Browning and Christian Mansell falling victim to the Colombian’s great pace on lap 13.
But that comeback was in vain when his contact with Gabriele Mini (Prema) on lap 18 at the exit of turn 4, when the lines of both drivers converged, caused a puncture in the right front of the Prema, and Mini was unable to avoid taking both of them ahead.
Up front, Boya had been able to withstand an attack from Dunne after a period of saving tires. However, an asterisk loomed over the on-track action, as Dunne – along with Christian Mansell (ART), Bedrin, Charlie Wurz (Jenzer), Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (AIX Racing), Sophia Floersch (Van Amersfoort Racing), Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport) and Piotr Wisnicki (Rodin) – were still being investigated for a false start.
As the cleaning of the track could not be completed before finishing the 21 laps, The race ended after the safety car and Boya took his first victory in F3 without opposition..
The abandonment cost Mini the championship lead, which passes to Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) with 74 points, two more than the Italian. Luke Browning (Hitech) has dropped to third place after taking the checkered flag 12th and failing to score points.
Video: this was Mari Boya’s celebration after her victory in Barcelona
Results of the F3 sprint race in Barcelona 2024
| 1 | M. Boya Racing Fields | 12 | twenty-one | 153,462 | 10 | ||||||
| 2 | A. Dunne MP Motorsport | 9 | twenty-one | 0.453 | 153,432 | 9 | |||||
| 3 | O. Goethe Racing Fields | 10 | twenty-one | 0.375 | 153,407 | 8 | |||||
| 4 | M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight | fifteen | twenty-one | 0.240 | 153,391 | 7 | |||||
| 5 | L.Van ART Grand Prix | 24 | twenty-one | 0.195 | 153,378 | 6 | |||||
| 6 | N. León Van Amersfoort Racing | twenty | twenty-one | 0.472 | 153,346 | 5 | |||||
| 7 | L. Fornaroli Trident | 4 | twenty-one | 0.158 | 153,336 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 8 | D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam | 1 | twenty-one | 0.304 | 153,315 | 3 | |||||
| 9 | A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam | 3 | twenty-one | 0.501 | 153,282 | 2 | |||||
| 10 | T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport | 7 | twenty-one | 0.266 | 153,264 | 1 | |||||
| eleven | C. Mansell ART Grand Prix | 23 | twenty-one | 0.147 | 153,254 | ||||||
| 12 | L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight | 14 | twenty-one | 0.264 | 153,237 | ||||||
| 13 | N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix | 25 | twenty-one | 0.561 | 153,199 | ||||||
| 14 | C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight | 16 | twenty-one | 0.277 | 153,181 | ||||||
| fifteen | J.Loake Rodin Motorsport | 31 | twenty-one | 0.439 | 153,151 | ||||||
| 16 | C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport | 17 | twenty-one | 0.330 | 153,129 | ||||||
| 17 | J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing | 28 | twenty-one | 0.305 | 153,109 | ||||||
| 18 | T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing | 22 | twenty-one | 0.500 | 153,076 | ||||||
| 19 | M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport | 19 | twenty-one | 1,151 | 152,999 | ||||||
| twenty | S. Floersch Van Amersfoort Racing | twenty-one | twenty-one | 0.179 | 152,987 | ||||||
| twenty-one | S. Ramos Trident | 6 | twenty-one | 0.253 | 152,970 | ||||||
| 22 | M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport | 18 | twenty-one | 0.479 | 152,938 | ||||||
| 23 | K. Sztuka MP Motorsport | 8 | twenty-one | 0.717 | 152,891 | ||||||
| 24 | P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport | 30 | twenty-one | 0.194 | 152,878 | ||||||
| 25 | T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing | 26 | twenty-one | 7,796 | 152,361 | ||||||
| dnf | G. Mini Prema Powerteam | 2 | 17 | Accident | |||||||
| dnf |  S. Montoya Racing Fields | eleven | 17 | Accident | |||||||
| dnf | S. Megetounif Trident | 5 | 2 | Accident | |||||||
| dnf | C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport | 29 | 2 | Accident | |||||||
| dnf | N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing | 27 | 2 | Accident |
