F3 Imola: Meguetounif charges to maiden win, Fornaroli takes outright points lead

Sami Meguetounif scored the first victory of his Formula 3 career with a composed drive in the Imola feature race, as Leonardo Fornaroli took the outright championship lead.

The Frenchman had started the F3 feature race third, behind his Trident team-mates Leonardo Fornaroli and polesitter Santiago Ramos.

After initially dropping out of the podium positions when sprint race winner Oliver Goethe made his way from seventh to first in a handful of laps, Meguetounif maintained his composure and slowly chipped away at those in front.

His progress was helped by a Fornaroli error that saw the Italian drop to fifth, but the real rewards came through patience, with the race-winning move made on lap 18 of 22 as he swept past Goethe on the run to Tamburello.

The result means that continues the trend of there being no repeat winners this season, with Luke Browning, Arvid Lindblad, Martinius Stenshorne, Dino Beganovic and Goethe the previous five drivers to stand on the top step of the podium.

Compared to the sprint race which saw four safety car interventions and a virtual safety car period, the feature race was a far calmer affair, with only a brief yellow flag shown as Tommy Smith spun into the gravel early on.

Oliver Goethe, Campos Racing

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Goethe made the best start of anyone, immediately gaining three positions from his seventh-place grid slot while Gabriele Mini bogged down and lost six spots, finding himself in 12th.

While Goethe would ultimately finish second after holding off Fornaroli in the closing stages, Mini recovered to eventually come home in sixth.

Polesitter Ramos enjoyed a strong opening phase of the race but his pace tailed off at the halfway point and he eventually took the flag in eighth for his third points finish of the campaign.

The drivers’ standings had a three-way tie at the top heading into the feature race with Browning ahead by virtue of his race win and two fourth places. But the Briton now finds himself in second, with winless Fornaroli now holding a three-point advantage after claiming his third podium for the year.

Beganovic was the third driver and remains third in the standings, although now seven points off Fornaroli after finishing fifth. He is level on points with Mini, who is one of only two drivers to have scored in every race – the other being Goethe.

F3 Imola - Feature race results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	S. Meguetounif Trident	5	22	-
2	O. Goethe Campos Racing	10	22	+2.700 2.7	2.700
3	L. Fornaroli Trident	4	22	+3.300 3.3	0.600
4	L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight	14	22	+3.600 3.6	0.300
5	D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam	1	22	+5.700 5.7	2.100
6	G. Minì Prema Powerteam	2	22	+6.900 6.9	1.200
7	A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam	3	22	+11.500 11.5	4.600
8	S. Ramos Trident	6	22	+12.700 12.7	1.200
9	M. Boya Campos Racing	12	22	+13.000 13.0	0.300
10	S. Montoya Campos Racing	11	22	+14.700 14.7	1.700
11	T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport	7	22	+18.600 18.6	3.900
12	S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing	21	22	+21.600 21.6	3.000
13	L. Van ART Grand Prix	24	22	+22.600 22.6	1.000
14	M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight	15	22	+23.500 23.5	0.900
15	K. Sztuka MP Motorsport	8	22	+23.500 23.5	0.000
16	A. Dunne MP Motorsport	9	22	+24.200 24.2	0.700
17	M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport	19	22	+25.700 25.7	1.500
18	C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	22	+29.500 29.5	3.800
19	N. León Van Amersfoort Racing	20	22	+30.000 30.0	0.500
20	C. Mansell ART Grand Prix	23	22	+31.500 31.5	1.500
21	M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport	18	22	+32.200 32.2	0.700
22	J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing	28	22	+35.000 35.0	2.800
23	P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport	30	22	+37.500 37.5	2.500
24	C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport	17	22	+40.300 40.3	2.800
25	J. Loake Rodin Motorsport	31	22	+40.500 40.5	0.200
26	N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix	25	22	+42.300 42.3	1.800
27	T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing	26	22	+51.400 51.4	9.100
28	T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing	22	22	+59.100 59.1	7.700
29	C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport	29	22	+1'16.600 1'16.6	17.500
30	N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing	27	21	1 lap
View full results