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Australia

F3 Barcelona: O'Sullivan holds off Browning for second win of 2023

Zak O'Sullivan took his second Formula 3 win of the season in Barcelona, holding off a fierce challenge from fellow Williams junior Luke Browning amid two safety cars.

Zak O'Sullivan, PREMA Racing

Zak O'Sullivan, PREMA Racing

Formula Motorsport Ltd

The Prema driver lined up on pole and despite his Hitech rival getting close to a move at Turn 1, held onto the lead.

The safety car was almost immediately deployed, but O'Sullivan held firm on the restart, with an early jump allowing him to maintain the lead.

Despite several more challenges from Browning and another safety car on lap 16, O'Sullivan was able to build a 1.6s gap to his rookie rival to take his first win since Melbourne.

Browning finished second for his first F3 podium, with Leonardo Fornaroli in third for Trident for his second podium in as many weekends.

Fornaroli took third from Gregoire Saucy (ART) at Turn 2 as the Frenchman ran wide, as Browning closed on O'Sullivan at the same place.

The first safety car came as Rodin Carlin driver Ido Cohen made contact with Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing) at Turn 9, hitting the wall and ending his race.

Racing resumed on lap five, with O'Sullivan getting the early jump at Turn 12 to escape Browning's clutches.

Further back, Gabriele Mini (Hitech), who sat second in the standings heading into the weekend, had made up five places, taking 13th from Taylor Barnard (Jenzer) before taking another place the following tour past Christian Mansell at Turn 7.

Browning continued to attempt moves on O'Sullivan as the laps progressed, trying a move at Turn 1 on lap 10, but was unable to pass the Prema driver.

Saucy allowed Prema driver Paul Aron past into fourth on the start-finish straight on lap 14 after running wide, with the error then allowing Sebastian Montoya (Hitech) and championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto (Trident) through too, dropping Saucy to seventh.

Montoya and Aron made contact at Turn 2 the following lap, with the Red Bull junior running wide across the gravel and contracting a puncture while Aron took fourth, with Bortoleto then passing the pair. The incident will be investigated after the race.

Prema rookie Dino Beganovic then went off at Turn 10 after also suffering from a puncture, before Mini and Campos driver Mansell made contact at Turn 2, ending Mansell's race and handing Mini a 10-second penalty.

These incidents prompted a second safety car, and as racing resumed on lap 19, O’Sullivan was able to build a convincing gap to Browning, ending the latter’s hopes of victory.

Mini made it past Saucy for eighth on the final lap, but was dropped to 21st by his penalty, denting his hopes of taking the championship lead.

Bortoleto took fourth, with Aron in fifth and MP Motorsport pair Franco Colapinto and Mari Boya in sixth and seventh.

Marti inherited eighth from Mini, with Saucy and Barnard completing the top 10.

Cla Driver Team Gap
1 United Kingdom Zak O'Sullivan
Italy Prema Powerteam
2 Luke Browning
Hitech Pulse-Eight 1.600
3 Leonardo Fornaroli
Italy Trident 2.300
4 Gabriel Bortoleto
Italy Trident 3.100
5 Paul Aron
Italy Prema Powerteam 3.600
6 Argentina Franco Colapinto
Netherlands MP Motorsport 4.100
7 Mari Boya
Netherlands MP Motorsport 5.000
8 Pepe Martí
Spain Campos Racing 6.200
9 Switzerland Gregoire Saucy
France ART Grand Prix 7.100
10 Taylor Barnard
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 7.800
11 Nikita Bedrin
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 8.400
12 Oliver Goethe
Italy Trident 8.800
13 United Kingdom Jonny Edgar
Netherlands MP Motorsport 9.500
14 Brazil Caio Collet
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 10.100
15 Nikola Tsolov
France ART Grand Prix 11.900
16 United States Kaylen Frederick
France ART Grand Prix 12.800
17 Oliver Gray
Rodin Carlin 13.500
18 Hunter Yeany
Rodin Carlin 14.100
19 Tommy Smith
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 15.200
20 Hugh Barter
Spain Campos Racing 15.700
21 Gabriele Minì
Hitech Pulse-Eight 15.800
22 Colombia Sebastian Montoya
Hitech Pulse-Eight 15.900
23 Germany Sophia Flörsch
PHM Racing by Charouz 16.500
24 Alex Garcia
Switzerland Jenzer Motorsport 16.800
25 Mexico Rafael Villagomez
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 17.200
26 Piotr Wiśnicki
PHM Racing by Charouz 18.000
27 Roberto Faria
PHM Racing by Charouz 18.300
28 Christian Mansell
Spain Campos Racing
29 Dino Beganovic
Italy Prema Powerteam
30 Israel Ido Cohen
Rodin Carlin

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