F3 Imola: Stanek claims maiden victory with late Bearman pass

A much interrupted race featured three safety cars and multiple lead changes before Trident driver Stanek passed Bearman’s Prema-run car on the main straight to thrust himself back into title contention following two non-scores in Bahrain.

Stanek held his second position off the line, then briefly took the lead from team-mate and polesitter Zane Maloney before the Barbadian took charge of the race as those who had made early progress on wet tyres faded away.

Stanek then inherited the lead from his team-mate after 2019 British Formula 4 champion Maloney spun on the second safety car restart, but his grip on the top spot was brief as reigning German and Italian F4 champion Bearman got the better jump and swept ahead into Tamburello.

But the Czech 18-year-old wasn't to be denied and kept close to the leader before passing him on the penultimate lap to take his first win in his third season of F3.

Jak Crawford repeated Stanek's move on Bearman to take second place on the final lap, with Isack Hadjar (Hitech) capitalising on a clash between Bearman and Gregoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix) at the first Rivazza further around the lap to take third as Bearman dropped to fourth.

A drying track led much of the field opt for slick tyres, but several drivers risked taking wets in a bid to make an early jump up the order.

One of these, MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet, charged through from ninth on the grid to lead by the end of lap one, but his advantage was short-lived thanks to the arrival of a safety car on lap two.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima and Brad Benavides (Carlin) crashed at the exit of Turn 1, while Charouz Racing System driver Francesco Pizzi also went off into the gravel.

This prompted Collet to swap over to slicks, with race one winner Franco Colapinto (VAR) and MP Motorsport’s Alexander Smolyar following suit.

Caio Collet led early on wets before bailing for slicks

Photo by: Dutch Photo Agency

Racing resumed on lap five, with Maloney getting a good getaway, while wet-shod Pepe Marti moved into second by passing Bearman and Stanek in quick succession.

The Campos Racing driver also passed Maloney on lap 6, while team-mate Hunter Yeany moved up to third, but both pitted for slicks on the following lap with slicks clearly the way to go.

Following contact with Rafael Villagomez’s left rear wheel, Benavides ended his eventful race for good and crashed to bring out the second safety car.

Maloney led the field to the restart on lap 11, but spun on the approach to Rivazza as he prepared to release the field, with Bearman then passing Stanek for the lead.

With Maloney's car beached, the safety car was required again, after which Bearman made his bid to escape from Stanek and set a fastest lap on lap 15. But the Ferrari junior couldn't make a decisive gap and Stanek replied with a fastest lap of his own four tours later before finally making it past.

Crawford was next to pass Bearman into Turn 1 on the final lap, securing his second podium of the weekend after finishing third in race one, before Saucy's move around the outside of Rivazza caused Bearman to get sideways and make contact with the reigning Formula Renault European by Alpine champion.

As Hadjar scampered through to third, Bearman recovered to cross the line in fourth while the incident ended Saucy’s race.

Bearman's team-mate Arthur Leclerc, who started in 21st after a crash with Enzo Trulli in qualifying, charged through the field to finish fifth, putting him level on points with pre-race championship leader Victor Martins - who finished out of the points in 11th.

Stanek's win puts him just a single point off the lead, with Crawford and Hadjar two and three points back respectively.

Kush Maini was sixth after an eventful first race, with Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan recovering from a race one crash to take seventh ahead of fellow previous GB3 champion Kaylen Frederick in eighth. David Vidales and Ido Cohen completed the points scorers.

FIA F3 Imola Race 2 results - 24 laps

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Roman Staněk	Trident	45'37.829
2	Jak Crawford	Prema Powerteam	45'38.483	0.654
3	Isack Hadjar	HitechGP	45'42.076	4.247
4	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	45'42.557	4.728
5	Arthur Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	45'44.344	6.515
6	Kush Maini	MP Motorsport	45'50.395	12.566
7	Zak O'Sullivan	Carlin	45'51.114	13.285
8	Kaylen Frederick	HitechGP	45'52.118	14.289
9	David Vidales	Campos Racing	45'52.774	14.945
10	Ido Cohen	Jenzer Motorsport	45'53.275	15.446
11	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	45'53.722	15.893
12	William Alatalo	Jenzer Motorsport	45'54.442	16.613
13	Caio Collet	MP Motorsport	45'56.416	18.587
14	David Schumacher	Charouz Racing System	45'56.677	18.848
15	Alexander Smolyar	MP Motorsport	45'58.879	21.050
16	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	45'59.798	21.969
17	Hunter Yeany	Campos Racing	46'00.792	22.963
18	Reece Ushijima	Van Amersfoort Racing	46'05.533	27.704
19	Nazim Azman	HitechGP	46'06.590	28.761
20	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	46'08.235	30.406
21	Federico Malvestiti	Jenzer Motorsport	46'10.203	32.374
22	Franco Colapinto	Van Amersfoort Racing	46'50.395	1'12.566
23	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	44'05.246	1 Lap
24	Enzo Trulli	Carlin	46'09.677	1 Lap
25	László Tóth	Charouz Racing System	46'28.933	3 Laps
	Zane Maloney	Trident	15 laps
	Brad Benavides	Carlin	18 laps
	Oliver Rasmussen	Trident	19 laps
	Francesco Pizzi	Charouz Racing System	23 laps
View full results