Vidales resists Crawford and wins the Sprint in Barcelona

David Vidales scored his first victory in F3 after keeping Jak Crawford behind him for the entirety of the Sprint Race. Arthur Leclerc was promoted to leader of the championship after the poor performance of Victor Martins.

Published on 21/05/2022 à 11:57

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Vidales resists Crawford and wins the Sprint in Barcelona, Leclerc new leader

First victory in F3 for David Vidales. ©DPPI/F. Gooden

Starting from pole position due to the inverted grid of this Sprint Race, David Vidales (Campos) was able to put all the elements together to win for the first time this season. The Spaniard notably resisted Jak Crawford (Prema) who put pressure on him for a long time without making him break.

With a good reaction to the lights going out, David Vidales perfectly negotiated the first turns of the Barcelona circuit to maintain his position ahead of Juan Manuel Correa (ART Grand Prix) and Jak Crawford. Still in the lead after the first 5 laps, the local rider then had to resist the return of the Prema driver to continue to believe in his first victory in F3.

Returning to contact and threatening in the Hispanic's exhausts, Jak Crawford tried his luck at the start of the 12th^e turn, in vain. Well helped by the DRS, the American tried to go around the outside at turn 1 but David Vidales was recalcitrant and closed the door on him. A maneuver which will still be studied by the commissioners after the race.

Jak Crawford fell back to just over a second after his overtaking attempt, David Vidales controlled the end of the race to take the checkered flag first in front of the Prema driver. Caio Collet (MP Motorsport) completed the Sprint podium after getting the better of Juan Manuel Correa in 18^e of the 20 rounds on the program.

The French in difficulty

Respectively 8^e and 10^e on the grid, Isack Hadjar (Hitech GP) and Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) did not have the best Saturday of their season. Fallen back in 14^e position after a bad start, the first city was able to find some resources to get back into the peloton. Well helped by his excellent racing pace, the Ile-de-France resident finished in 10th place.^e to grab the last point at stake in this Sprint Race.

Victor Martins was unable to complete the event this Saturday. Victim of a mechanical problem on 7^e lap, the ART Grand Prix driver had no choice but to return to the pits and retire. Bad news for him since Arthur Leclerc (Prema), tied on points with him in 1^e place in the championship before the start, took sole control thanks to the 7 points of the 4^e instead.