FEATURE RACE: Edgar holds his nerve for maiden F3 win in last lap Monza shootout

Jonny Edgar managed a final Safety Car restart to perfection to bring home both his first podium, and first win, in Formula 3 and take the double for MP Motorsport at Monza.

Zak O’Sullivan fought hard to wrestle the victory away from his fellow Briton, but ultimately had to settle for second. Crucially, the 18 points were enough for him to achieve the honour of runner up in the Drivers' Championship and help PREMA Racing retain the Teams’ Championship.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Taylor Barnard capped off an impressive end to his rookie campaign, moving up from eighth on the grid to complete the top three.

AS IT HAPPENED

Drama already began to unfold before the 21 laps of racing had gotten underway. Pole sitter Oliver Goethe pulled off the grid reporting a broken throttle, leading to an extra formation lap.

Once the five lights went out, Collet covered off the inside to hold the lead in the #17 Van Amersfoort Racing car. Third-placed Paul Aron immediately tried to take advantage of the space in front but lost out to Edgar, who edged past the PREMA driver at the apex of the Della Roggia chicane, allowing Champion Gabriel Bortoleto to follow him through into third.

The Safety Car was deployed on the opening lap after Sprint Race winner Franco Colapinto stopped on track after contact at Turn 5, leaving the Argentinian with broken suspension.

After racing had resumed on Lap 4, Edgar was back on the attack, diving past Collet at Turn 1. Three-wide with Aron and O’Sullivan in the battle for third, Bortoleto went too deep and was forced to bail out down the escape road at the first corner, dropping him down to P6.

Another off-track excursion for Brazilian at Turn 4 gave Nikola Tsolov the opportunity to attack, allowing Barnard and Mari Boya to also come through and demote Bortoleto to P9. Grégoire Saucy tried the same but contact between the pair left the ART Grand Prix driver with a puncture, sending him sailing off into the barriers, necessitating another Safety Car appearance.

Back racing on Lap 9, Edgar couldn’t shake off Collet. The VAR driver looked to get the job done around the outside of the Della Roggia exit, but the Briton showed was back through for first at Lesmo 1.

Behind them, Aron found himself bouncing over the gravel at Turn 1 after banging wheels with Leonardo Fornaroli, dropping the Mercedes junior from fourth to 11th. A lap later, a mistake for home hero Fornaroli at the Della Roggia chicane meant the Trident driver dropped to ninth.

The leading battles were fierce as Collet slid past Edgar to regain the lead on Lap 12, whilst Barnard lunged at O’Sullivan to claim third through the first chicane. Undeterred, Edgar made full use of the slipstream, carrying enough overspeed to breeze past the Brazilian back up to the front of the field one lap later.

Another Safety Car interruption to running came after Sebastián Montoya got stuck in the gravel at Turn 5 having been tagged by Hitech Pulse-Eight teammate Gabriele Minì.

Edgar was able to defend from Collet who went for a move into Turn 1, as Barnard tried to join in on their duel. Seeing their battle, O’Sullivan seized his chance to slip around the outside of both Barnard and Collet for second. Going straight on the hunt for Edgar, the two ran side-by-side into Della Roggia, touching wheels and sending the Williams junior over the run-off.

The Safety Car returned that same lap after Josep María Martí was hit from behind, the Campos Racing driver found himself stuck in the gravel, joined by Rodin Carlin’s Ido Cohen. Roberto Faria joined the duo in retirement, pulling over on the main straight to extend the Safety Car’s appearance.

With a last lap shootout to overcome, Edgar went early to break clear on the restart. O’Sullivan was slow to react. Collet tried the switchback out of the Della Roggia chicane to take second, but it was Barnard who made his move stick, swooping through on the Brazilian at the first Lesmo to secure the final podium spot.

Champion Bortoleto recovered to take fifth ahead of Mari Boya. Aron took seventh ahead of Campos’ Christian Mansell. A five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track demoted Fornaroli from P9 to P16, lifting Dino Beganovic up to 9th and Rafael Villagómez took the final point in 10th.

KEY QUOTE – Jonny Edgar, MP Motorsport

“I’ve just won the Feature Race here in Monza. I’m really happy for the team, we’ve had a really difficult year and yesterday we crashed, so the mechanics did a great job to repair the car. Everyone in the team did an amazing job today. The team won both races this weekend, so I think it shows how well the team has done.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Gabriel Bortoleto ends his title-winning campaign with 164 points to his name. Zak O’Sullivan’s fifth podium of the season is enough for the PREMA driver to seal second place in the Drivers’ Championship on 119 points, seven points ahead of teammate Paul Aron. Unable to score in the Feature Race, Franco Colapinto and Josep María Martí complete the top five in the Standings, on 110 and 105 points respectively. PREMA Racing are the Teams’ Champions with 327 points. Trident finish up second with 308. MP Motorsport’s back-to-back victories earn them a top three finish on 194 points ahead of Campos Racing on 179 and Hitech Pulse-Eight on 170.

UP NEXT

The 2023 Formula 3 racing season draws to a close, but there is still some action to come as the first of three post-season tests gets underway at the Circuito de Jerez from October 5-6.