Imola – Sprint: Tramnitz dominates Del Pino, Giusti in the points

To open the ball at Imola, the Formula 3 was the scene of a race that saw all three MP Motorsport drivers shine. Bruno del Pino started in first position after setting the 12th fastest time in Friday's qualifying session, and benefited from the grid reversal to try to shine. The Spaniard was, however, overtaken on the third lap by his teammate. The latter maintained his lead for more than 15 laps, despite several interruptions.

Indeed, Tim Tramnitz had to deal with the deployment of a first safety car on the fifth lap of the race. Nicola Marinangeli (AIX Racing) lost his right rear wheel, forcing the Italian to retire, causing three slow laps for the rest of the grid. Determined to restart the race quickly, the leader was unable to escape far, as a second consecutive safety car had to be deployed. Mari Boya (Campos) suffered a sudden slowdown while fighting for the podium, but it was Matías Zagazeta's (Dams) crash, directly into the gravel trap, that neutralized the race again on the following lap.

Giusti gets the better of Câmara

Taking advantage of these various incidents, Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport) managed to pull out all the stops. The Frenchman, starting 13th, managed to climb into the points zone thanks to a well-managed comeback. Among his highlights on Saturday was a clever overtake on Rafael Câmara (Trident), the championship's dominant leader until then. The Brazilian, 11th, therefore did not extend his lead before Sunday's main race, for which he will start from pole position.

Despite these numerous racing incidents, Nikola Tsolov (Campos) managed to maintain his position, and even gained a place, as he managed to climb onto the podium after starting fourth. Fifth overall, the Bulgarian before the start of the weekend, still has a chance, as does the day's winner. Tim Tramnitz is in fact second behind Rafael Câmara, although he is 26 points behind the leader.

The most lucrative race of the weekend will take place on Sunday at 8:20 a.m. (French time) at the Emilia-Romagna circuit in Imola.