F3 Barcelona Wrap; Wharton wins, Naël shoots into second, Ugochukwu holds the lead

• James Wharton bounced back from a difficult Monaco weekend by winning the Sprint Race in Barcelona, while Théophile Naël converted a third consecutive pole position into his maiden F3 Feature Race victory.
• Naël’s dominant weekend propelled him to second in the championship standings, although Ugo Ugochukwu retained the series lead thanks to his podium finish in the Feature Race.
• The title fight remains tightly contested heading to Austria, with just 11 points separating championship leader Ugochukwu from Freddie Slater in fourth place.

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Wharton wins the Sprint

Off the back of a difficult weekend in Monaco, James Wharton rebounded in Barcelona to win the Sprint Race.

Starting second, Wharton seized the lead from polesitter Gerrard Xie despite the latter making a strong getaway. Xie soon found himself under pressure from Freddie Slater, putting the Australian back into the fight.

Slater moved up into second, going wheel-to-wheel with Wharton through Turns 2 and 4. On Lap 3, the Prema driver reclaimed the position with a dive down the inside at Turn 1.

Another move down the inside at Turn 1 later saw Wharton pass Xie for the lead. He then controlled two Safety Car restarts on his way to victory.

Slater came under pressure in the closing stages from Xie and Tuukka Taponen, but ultimately held on for second ahead of the Chinese driver.

Naël’s pole hat-trick

Théophile Naël claimed a third consecutive F3 pole position, beating Campos teammate and championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu to top spot.

Just 0.039 seconds separated the pair, with Hiyu Yamakoshi continuing his strong form from Monaco by qualifying third.

Three Campos drivers qualified inside the top five, with Ernesto Rivera joining teammates Naël and Ugochukwu in fifth. Brando Badoer split them in fourth.

Naël commands the Feature Race

Backing up his pole position, Naël went on to secure his maiden F3 victory with a commanding lights-to-flag drive.

The Campos driver withstood pressure from Yamakoshi throughout the race, as the Van Amersfoort Racing driver split the Campos teammates, finishing ahead of Ugochukwu.

Championship leader Ugochukwu was slow away from the line, allowing Yamakoshi to move ahead before Turn 1. The Japanese driver was then forced off the road at the opening corner while battling side-by-side with Naël.

Bruno del Pino later passed Ugochukwu, but struggled for pace and eventually lost the position back to the American. The Spaniard ultimately slipped to sixth.

Badoer penalty rescinded

Rodin Motorsport’s Badoer was handed a 10-second time penalty during the Sprint Race after stewards initially determined he had caused a collision with Rivera.

However, following a Right of Review, the penalty was rescinded after it was found that Badoer had been taking avoiding action and did not have sufficient time to react. Rivera had suffered a technical issue that caused a loss of power immediately before the incident.

The stewards ultimately determined that “neither driver was wholly or predominantly responsible for the collision”, resulting in Badoer being promoted to 10th.

Ugochukwu still leads

Despite his DNF on Saturday, Ugochukwu retains the championship lead thanks to his third-place finish in the Barcelona Feature Race.

However, it is his Campos teammate Naël who moves into second in the standings, leapfrogging del Pino after converting pole position into victory.

Del Pino has recorded three consecutive sixth-place finishes since his podium in the Monaco Sprint, leaving him four points behind the Frenchman.

Slater remains firmly in contention, sitting just one point behind del Pino and 11 points adrift of Ugochukwu at the top. Badoer rounds out the top five heading into the next round in Austria.

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and reporting on F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having provided accredited F1 coverage for more than a decade and is a member of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association). Live blogging (almost) every grand prix too since 2014, as well as articles on the Supercars Championship. Also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl, (trying to) expertly barbeque and learning to Dad.

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