Ramos Resists The Pressure To Take Maiden F3 Win

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos was able to secure his first victory in FIA Formula 3, holding off Hitech TGR driver Martinius Stenshorne for the win in the Melbourne Sprint Race. Rodin Motorsport driver Roman Bilinski made an impressive debut in the Championship, securing the final spot on the podium.

AS IT HAPPENED

Ramos held firm into Turn 1, but Bilinski had to fight back past Stenshorne with a late dive into Turn 4 having lost out in the first corner to the Hitech TGR driver. It also opened the door for Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to follow through, but their fight was far from over.

The Rodin then swept by Matías Zagazeta for second into Turn 9, but waiting in the wings, Inthraphuvasak, went into third around the outside into the chicane. Stenshorne fired back before the end of the lap, re-passing the pair into Turn 11 to move back into second, while Inthraphuvasak lost out to Zagazeta for fourth before the end of the lap.

A Virtual Safety Car was called upon as the second tour began, Charlie Wurz’s TRIDENT in need of recovering after stopping at Turn 5.

Back to green flag racing on Lap 3, Tramnitz was tucked in the slipstream of Inthraphuvasak and he took fifth with an around-the-outside pass at Turn 9.

The Safety Car was called upon in short order though, Rafael Câmara and Laurens van Hoepen both in the gravel at Turn 12 following contact with James Wharton, who also retired at the end of the lap with suspension damage.

Tramnitz had been up to fifth after passing Inthraphuvasak before the Safety Car. But an apparent issue under the Safety Car forced him to slow and drop to the back, before he eventually retired from the Sprint.

Racing got back underway entering Lap 9, with Ramos holding on to his lead from Stenshorne, Bilinski, Zagazeta and Inthraphuvasak in the top five, as they broke away from the rest of the pack. Crucially for the lead battle, a wide moment for Ramos at Turn 13 allowed the Hitech driver to get back into DRS range of his VAR rival ahead at the halfway point.

On Lap 13, Stenshorne got a good run into Turn 11 and forced the Mexican driver to defend the corner, but he couldn’t find a route through.

At the back of the leading queue, Inthraphuvasak made a pass stick on Zagazeta into Turn 1 to claim fourth position on Lap 15. But their battling allowed the top three to escape three seconds up the road.

Another Safety Car was called upon with five laps to go after contact between Bruno Del Pino and Javier Sagrera into Turn 6, leaving both in the gravel.

The clean up operation meant that there was not enough time to get back to green flag racing, allowing Ramos to lead the field over the line for his first F3 win.

Stenshorne followed in second with Bilinski on the podium on his F3 debut. Inthraphuvasak and Zagazeta completed the top five ahead of Nikita Bedrin for AIX Racing, VAR’s Théophile Nael, Campos Racing driver Nikola Tsolov, Rodin’s Callum Voisin and Noel León, who earned P10 for PREMA Racing.

Santiago Ramos, Van Amersfoort Racing

“Really happy with the race result. At the beginning of the race, we were able to create a gap, I thought it was going to be enough to keep me out of problems for the rest of the race, then the Safety Car came. Then Martinius came quite close to me a couple of times, so I was a bit scared. In the end we managed to keep the position, and it was a really, really fun race.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Ramos takes an early lead in the Drivers’ Championship courtesy of his win ahead of Stenshorne, who also has 10 points courtesy of a fastest lap bonus point. Bilinski is third in the Standings on eight points. Inthraphuvasak is fourth ahead of Zagazeta in the top five.

In the Teams’ Standings, Van Amersfoort Racing lead with 14 points ahead of Hitech TGR, Rodin Motorsport and Campos Racing, all level on 10 points. DAMS Lucas Oil round out the first five teams with six points.

UP NEXT

The first FIA Formula 3 Feature Race is set to get underway on Sunday morning at 09:00 local time.