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Red Bull Ring European F3: Ilott wins as huge crash stops race

Callum Ilott took victory for now in a Red Bull Ring Formula 3 European Championship opener red-flagged due to a horrific accident to Ryan Tveter, Peter Li and Pedro Piquet

The stewards will decide whether Ilott passed Maximilian Gunther on the opening lap before the safety-car boards came out in what is understood to be a very close call.

NEWS UPDATE: Ilott keeps victory after stewards' hearing

From pole position, the Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Mercedes of Ilott got away in the lead, but was passed by the front-row-sitting Prema Powerteam machine of Gunther as they exited Turn 2.

Ilott managed to sweep back around the outside of Gunther, who was struggling with his brakes, as they entered the left-handed Turn 4, just as the race went under safety-car conditions.

Tveter had spun in the first-lap mix-up at Turn 2, causing Arjun Maini to brake, and then Weiron Tan was launched onto the top of Maini's car.

While Maini and Tan were out on the spot, Tveter rejoined at the back after repairs, while Ben Barnicoat and Joel Eriksson, who had been running fourth and fifth, also needed attention in the pits.

On the restart, championship leader Lance Stroll passed Prema team-mate Gunther for second when the German ran wide exiting Turn 3.

Mikkel Jensen was also able to pass Gunther on the following lap, although Gunther repassed the Mucke Motorsport car a few laps later.

Ilott was over three seconds to the good when Tveter spun at the fast left-hander at Turn 5, rotating through the gravel and coming to rest pointing in the right direction on the racing line.

While Eriksson, running immediately behind, slipped through, Li appeared to be unsighted in the gravel cloud and struck the rear of the sister Carlin car of Tveter, launching himself into a frightening barrel roll.

Piquet then smashed the front of Tveter's car, and careered into the barriers at Turn 6.

Early reports are that Li is awake and alert in the medical centre, Tveter is also in the medical centre with light injuries, and Piquet is unharmed.

NEWS UPDATE: Li airlifted to hospital for checks

Behind the top four, Hitech Grand Prix man George Russell came out on top of a frantic race-long scrap with Nick Cassidy for what became fifth after Piquet earned a drive-through penalty for a jumped start.

David Beckmann, on just his second F3 race weekend with Mucke Motorsport, claimed his first points for seventh place, holding off Harrison Newey and Ralf Aron.

The recovering Barnicoat made great progress through the field to claim the final point, although he was assisted in this when Niko Kari earned a drive-through penalty for his move on Alessio Lorandi for 10th place.

UPDATE: Russell has been moved up from fifth to fourth place in the results of after Jensen, who finished fourth, was penalised five seconds for track-limits infringements, dropping the Dane to fifth.

RESULTS - 16 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Callum Ilott Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 23m54.454s
2 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 3.472s
3 Maximilian Guenther Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 7.219s
4 George Russell Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 14.222s
5 Mikkel Jensen kfzteile Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 15.679s
6 Nick Cassidy Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 15.755s
7 David Beckmann kfzteile Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 17.332s
8 Harrison Newey Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 17.987s
9 Ralf Aron Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 18.621s
10 Ben Barnicoat Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 22.751s
11 Alessio Lorandi Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 23.528s
12 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 28.948s
13 Guanyu Zhou Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 29.466s
14 Nikita Mazepin Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 30.331s
15 Ryan Tveter Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 31.173s
16 Anthoine Hubert Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 33.485s
17 Joel Eriksson Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 34.136s
18 Zhi Cong Li Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 36.082s
19 Pedro Piquet Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 36.924s
20 Niko Kari Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 43.530s
- Weiron Tan Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement
- Arjun Maini ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/NBE Retirement


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