France F3: Smolyar takes dramatic last-lap win from Martins
ART Grand Prix’s Alexander Smolyar fought through the field to take his second FIA Formula 3 win of the year after a last-lap tussle for the lead with Victor Martins.
In a sprint race which saw five different leaders, the action went down to the last sector, with Smolyar, who started sixth, battling the MP Motorsport driver Martins for the win.
Alpine academy driver Martins had looked set to take his first victory in F3 at his home race after starting tenth and charging through the field, but was passed by Smolyar in a dramatic tussle on Lap 20.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Calan Williams, who started on pole, took his first F3 points finish and his first podium finishing third, while Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant finished fourth.
Trident’s Clement Novalak finished fifth, with newly-announced Sauber academy driver Juan Manuel Correa (ART Grand Prix) finishing sixth.
Williams had a good start off the line, with Sargeant passing Trident’s David Schumacher to move up to second place by the first turn, while Hitech Grand Prix’s Ayumu Iwasa moved up into P3.
The virtual safety car was briefly deployed on Lap 2 after Johnathan Hoggard, racing in his first weekend for Jenzer Motorsport, went off after a collision and stopped at the side of the track.
By Lap 7, Smolyar and Correa were embroiled in a battle for fourth place, while Sargeant took the lead from Williams in a tense three-car battle with Iwasa, who then took second into Le Beausset.
Iwasa took the lead from Sargeant into Signes on Lap 10, while further behind the leading pair, Martins passed Correa into fifth using DRS.
Victor Martins, MP Motorsport
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Smolyar finally passed Williams into P3 on lap 13, before taking P2 from Sargeant on lap 17.
Iwasa was handed a five-second penalty after all four of his wheels left the track while he attempted to pass Sargeant, demoting him from the podium, and leaving him to eventually finish in eighth.
The last few laps saw dramatic place-trading, with Martins, Smolyar, Williams and Sargeant battling for the top three spots.
Martins took the lead on Lap 18, but was passed by Smolyar on the final lap.
ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti, who finished 15th, took the bonus points for the fastest lap.
Prema Racing’s Arthur Leclerc, who started in last place, stormed through the pack to finish 12th, putting him on reverse grid pole for this afternoon’s second sprint race.
Hitech Grand Prix’s Jak Crawford will start alongside him on the front row, while Prema’s Olli Caldwell and Dennis Hauger will line up on the second row.
Iwasa will start fifth, with Trident’s Jack Doohan in sixth.
Results
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alexander Smolyar |  ART Grand Prix | 20 | - | |
| 2 | Victor Martins |  MP Motorsport | 20 | 0.600 | 0.600 |
| 3 |  Calan Williams |  Jenzer Motorsport | 20 | 1.200 | 1.200 |
| 4 |  Logan Sargeant |  Charouz Racing System | 20 | 1.700 | 1.700 |
| 5 |  Clement Novalak |  Trident | 20 | 2.300 | 2.300 |
| 6 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART Grand Prix | 20 | 2.600 | 2.600 |
| 7 | Jack Doohan | Trident | 20 | 2.700 | 2.700 |
| 8 | Ayumu Iwasa | HitechGP | 20 | 5.800 | 5.800 |
| 9 |  Dennis Hauger | Prema Powerteam | 20 | 6.200 | 6.200 |
| 10 | Olli Caldwell | Prema Powerteam | 20 | 6.400 | 6.400 |
| 11 | Jak Crawford | HitechGP | 20 | 8.000 | 8.000 |
| 12 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema Powerteam | 20 | 9.000 | 9.000 |
| 13 | Caio Collet | MP Motorsport | 20 | 9.300 | 9.300 |
| 14 | Lorenzo Colombo |  Campos Racing | 20 | 9.700 | 9.700 |
| 15 |  Frederik Vesti | ART Grand Prix | 20 | 12.700 | 12.700 |
| 16 |  David Schumacher | Trident | 20 | 12.900 | 12.900 |
| 17 | Oliver Rasmussen | HWA AG | 20 | 27.900 | 27.900 |
| 18 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | Campos Racing | 20 | 30.700 | 30.700 |
| 19 | Reshad de | Charouz Racing System | 20 | 31.800 | 31.800 |
| 20 | Kaylen Frederick | Carlin | 20 | 32.200 | 32.200 |
| 21 |  Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz Racing System | 20 | 33.800 | 33.800 |
| 22 | Ido Cohen | Carlin | 20 | 38.700 | 38.700 |
| 23 | Matteo Nannini | HWA AG | 20 | 40.800 | 40.800 |
| 24 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer Motorsport | 20 | 41.000 | 41.000 |
| 25 | Rafael Villagómez | HWA AG | 20 | 1'01.300 | 1'01.300 |
| 26 | Roman Staněk | HitechGP | 20 | 1'15.700 | 1'15.700 |
| 27 | Amaury Cordeel | Campos Racing | 20 | 1'21.500 | 1'21.500 |
| 28 | Jonny Edgar | Carlin | 20 | 1'42.800 | 1'42.800 |
| 29 | Tijmen van | MP Motorsport | 19 | 1 lap | |
| Johnathan Hoggard | Jenzer Motorsport | 18 | |||
| View full results | |||||
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