Franco Colapinto won the Formula 3 Sprint Race at Monza to become the joint record winner in the category with four victories.
The MP Motorsport driver saw off challenges from the likes of his teammate Mari Boya and 2023 champion Gabriel Bortoleto in a race that saw multiple changes for the lead.
With the championship decided in qualifying and thus the pressure well and truly off new F3 title holder Bortoleto, attention turned to who would race hardest for the Sprint win on Saturday morning at Monza.
Several drivers had their races affected before the action even got underway, with the Hitech and Pulse-Eight squads having all their drivers relegated to the back of the grid for a parc ferme infringement.
There was chaos from the start as MP Motorsport’s Boya took the holeshot, but Paul Aron spun at the opening chicane as a rear puncture rendered his Prema car uncontrollable and he collected Johny Edgar in the process of spinning out.
Josep Maria Marti then went off at Lesmo 1 and his race ended in the gravel trap thanks to damage to the front left suspension sustained in the opening chicane drama, prompting a Safety Car on Lap 1.
Caio Collet was also caught up in messy F3 action and was the culprit behind Aron’s Turn 1 puncture, which landed him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Collet pitted under the Safety Car for a new wing, rejoining at the back of the pack.
As the field toured around the Monza circuit under caution, Boya led an MP 1-2, with his teammate Colapinto lining up in second.
The Safety Car came to an end at the end of Lap 4 to allow racing to resume and Boya coasted the field all the way back to the start/finish straight before pulling the pin and getting the pack back up to racing speeds.
Boya and Colapinto held firm in first and second, whilst the pack behind jostled for position.
As DRS was enabled on Lap 7, the top five of Boya, Colapinto, Gregoire Saucy, Zak O’Sullivan and Taylor Barnard tightened up and broke away from the rest of the field.
This prompted Christian Mansell and Bortoleto to jump Nikola Tsolov and give chase, with Bortoleto passing Mansell to take sixth shortly after.
Bortoleto was able to bridge the gap to the top five, whilst his Trident teammate Oliver Goethe had managed to climb to eighth from 28th on the gird.
Colapinto took his place at the front of the pack y passing teammate Boya at the start of Lap 10 and O’Sullivan went to make a move on Saucy, but the pair touched exiting the opening chicane and Saucy received a puncture and dropped down the order as a result.
Amid the kerfuffle, Bortoleto took third and Goethe continued his ascension to sit sixth.
Boya retook the lead at the start of Lap 12 as Bortoleto shot down calls over team radio to manage his tyres, but a lap later Colapinto retook the lead again going into Turn 1 as the fight for the lead grew to a train of nine cars.
Turn 1 was the corner of choice for making moves and that was proved once again on Lap 14 as Barnard passed O’Sullivan for fourth, with the fight between the pair carrying on for a few more corners.
Colapinto meanwhile was trying to break free from the DRS range of the pack behind, stretching his lead to eight-tenths over Boya at the start of Lap 15.
Goethe’s charge was halted at the start of Lap 15 as he went in to hot at Turn 1, having to take to the escape road as a result and losing ground on the top five in the process.
As the field came round for the final lap, Colapinto led from Boya, Bortoleto, Barnard and O’Sullivan, who was handed a 10-second time penalty for instigating the earlier collision with Saucy.
Borotoleto challenged Boya for second at Turn 1 but was unable to make a move, took to the grass around the outside of Turn 3 before completing the pass for second at next chicane.
This created a buffer for leader Colapinto and he held on to take a record-equalling fourth win in F3.
Bortoleto held onto second place ahead of Boya in third, with Luke Browning completing the top five after starting 27th.
In sixth was Leonardo Fornaroli, ahead of Goethe in seventh.
Gabriele Mini took eighth with Mansell and Tsolov completing the top-10.
Victory for Colapinto sees him take second in the championship (110 points) with one race remaining, four points ahead of Aron (106 points).
The Formula 3 season concludes with tomorrow’s Feature Race at 08:15 local time (07:15 BST).
Keyword: Colapinto takes record-equalling win in Italian F3 Sprint