Zane Maloney started the FIA F3 feature race on pole after a stellar qualifying performance, and ART’s Victor Martins joined him on the front row.
The five lights went out signalling the start of the feature race and pole sitter Maloney got a poor start off the line, giving Martins the opportunity to seize the lead out of turn one, which the Frenchman grabbed with both hands, passing Maloney down the inside to claim first position.
Maloney did not give up on his pursuit for the lead, as he was within 0.4 seconds of Martins on lap four, after setting the fastest lap of the race on lap three, which would remain the fastest lap of the race till the checkered flag, bagging the Barbadian an extra championship point.
However, Victor Martins’ lead was put under jeopardy, when Brad Benavides and William Alatalo tangled into turn two and found themselves in the barriers, prompting a safety car on lap four.
The top five read: Victor Martins, Zane Maloney, Jak Crawford, Franco Colapinto and Roman Stanek as the safety car made its way round the track and the two cars were removed from the barriers.
The race got underway again on lap eight, and Martins held his lead, catching Maloney off guard off the restart.
Jak Crawford, who occupied the final podium position, fell all the way down to ninth as he locked up attempting a move into turn one and found the gravel.
On lap eleven, Zane Maloney picked up DRS and attempted a move on Victor Martins for the lead out of turn one. The Trident man made it stick and reclaimed first from Martins.
After slipping down to ninth on lap eight, Jak Crawford was staging a very impressive recovery drive making it back to seventh by lap fourteen, cruising past debutant Sebastian Montoya into turn one.
Victor Martins was struggling to keep pace with Maloney out in front, falling out of DRS range on lap sixteen. Third place Franco Colapinto was also putting immense pressure on Martis for second place until the safety car was deployed on lap seventeen.
David Vidales’ Campos car came to a halt at turn two, forcing a virtual safety car, which was swiftly upgraded to a full safety car, due to debris from the nose of Gregoire Saucy’s ART littering the track.
The safety car pulled into the pits on lap twenty one, and Zane Maloney managed to keep hold of his lead off the restart.
Championship contender Oliver Bearman pulled off an excellent manoeuvre on Aleksandr Smolyar to claim eleventh place and continue his hunt for a point scoring position.
However, a third safety car of the race was deployed when Rafael Villagomez found himself in the gravel after contact with Juan Manuel Correa at turn one.
The race resumed on the penultimate lap of the race, and once again Zane Maloney managed to defend his position from Victor Martins, who had a good restart.
Despite Martins’ best efforts it would be Zane Maloney who would cross the line first, and claim back to back feature race wins. Martins would have to settle for second while Franco Colapinto claimed the final podium position.
Roman Stanek finished fourth, followed by the championship leader going into the race, Isack Hadjar, but a place finish was not enough to hold his championship lead, so he will enter the final round of the season next weekend in Monza, five points behind his French counterpart Victor Martins.
Elsewhere in the battle for the championship, Oliver Bearman finished tenth claiming the final point scoring position of the race, after starting fourteenth. However, this was not enough to keep in the top three of the championship, as he now sits fourth behind Trident’s Roman Stanek.
A torrid weekend for Arthur Leclerc was rounded off with a fourteenth place finish in the feature race, meaning the PREMA man sits fifth in the standings, only one point ahead of feature race winner Zane Maloney going into a colossal race weekend in Monza next weekend.
