Mari Boya takes maiden victory on home soil in Formula 3 sprint race

Mari Boya taking victory in the sprint race. Credit: James Sutton via Getty Images

Campos' Mari Boya took victory on home soil for his first Formula 3 victory, in Saturday's action packed sprint race in Barcelona.

Boya took victory to become the ninth different winner so far in 2024 with victory in Formula 3's 99th race that saw too safety cars.

The home favourite took victory ahead of MP Motorsport's McLaren junior Alex Dunne and the Campos of Oliver Goethe.

Gabriele Mini was one of the retirements from the race after coming together with former teammate Sebastian Montoya.

How the F3 sprint unfolded in Barcelona

A fantastic race was in prospect as the teams and drivers prepared for the sprint race on Saturday morning at the Circuit Barcelona-Catlunya.

Drama galore in Friday's qualifying, which saw Christian Mansell take pole position for ART ahead of Arvid Lindblad. 

The top 12 were reversed as is common for the sprint race grid and Sami Meguetounif would have been looking forward to starting from pole for the race. However, he would not get to do that. This was due to Sebastian Montoya, who qualified 10th, had his time deleted for track limits, dropping him to 27th.

Therefore, this promoted Santiago Ramos into 12th and he would start from pole. Ramos' Trident teammate Sami Meguetounif would start alongside. Mari Boya, home hero, would start third.

All 30 cars were lined up on the grid for the Formula 3 and the race was ready to get underway.

The lights went out and a great start to the race for the Trident pair out front who maintained positions. Ramos had the lead maintained from Meguetounif, with places being made up all through the field.

Oliver Goethe made up places to fifth as cars were side by side all through the field. Difficult start for Nikola Tsolov, who won the last sprint race in Monaco. He was down to 18.

At the start of lap 2, a fantastic battle that was four wide between drivers that included Christian Mansell, Luke Browning, Nikola Tsolov and Gabriel Mini. Christian Mansell would be the driver who would be the lead of that battle.

The following lap and there would be chaos between the front pair as the two Trident's came together. Meguetounif made an over ambitious move on Santiago Ramos into turn 1. A move across the grass from Meguetounif then collided into Ramos. 

Meguetounif had terminal damage and was out on the spot, while Ramos had a puncture and came into the pits for a change of tyres. 

Nikita Bedrin and Callum Voisin were also in a  battle on the approach to the incident and the two also came together. Bedrin of AIX made a move to the inside of Voisin under yellow flags. Both coming together and ruling each other out of the race.

After these two incidents, the safety car would be deployed and both incidents would be investigated after the race.

Mari Boya became the new race leader, with Alex Dunne in second. Boya's Campos teammate Oliver Goethe was third.

End of lap 7 of 21 and racing was resumed as both incidents were cleared and BOya got a good restart and pulled clear of Dunne.

Gabriele Mini at the restart made a decent move up into 11th on Christian Mansell, the battle recommenced between the pair. Further round the lap and Noel Leon took sixth from Arvid Lindblad.

Sebastian Montoya up into 14th place after starting 27th an incredible start from him. He had just got into 14th after passing Tsolov at turn 10.

Montoya's Campos teammate Boya, was unable to pull a second gap to avoid Alex Dunne being in the DRS length of him. Boya would be under pressure from the Mclaren junior MP Motorsport driver.

The other McLaren junior driver on the grid, Martinius Stenshorne made a super move on Laurens Van Hoepen in the ART. This left Van Hoepen vulnerable to Leon. The pair went side by side for nearly half a lap and almost took fifth. Van Hoepen was able to keep fifth. Stenshorne was fourth, Van Hoepen fifth and Leon sixth.

Sebastian Montoya was up into another place, as he passed Luke Browning for 13th on lap 11. An incredible race from the Colombian driver so far. He started 27th and was picking his way through the field. He would then take 12th from Mansell.

After some persisting Luke Browning would finally make the pass on Mansell. A clean and lovely pass for 13th. However, into turn 1 Mansell would fight back and re-overtake the Williams Academy driver. Nikola Tsolov, Mansell's teammate was in the hunt.

Tasanapol Inthraphuvask would then be put under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage into turn 2. An incident that was unseen on the footage but he would be awarded a 10-second time penalty for.

Out front and onto lap 15, Boya was in the lead ahead of Dunne and Goethe. He was being pressurised by the two though. 

A move from Inthraphuvasak though on the same lap, he got up into 20th with a pass on the Van Amersfoort car of Tommy Smith.

This battle was hotting up as Stenshorne had closed up to the top three and was fancying his opportunities and chances to get on the podium for the second time in his Formula 3 career.

A whole host of cars including Dunne would be noted for a false start. The race director has referred it to the Stewards to investigate, seven in total. This would be investigated after the race.

Lap 18 and Sebastian Montoya was trying to overtake Gabriele Mini for 11th but both came together into turn 5 and both going into the gravel. Both drivers would be out of the race and the safety car would be reintroduced to the circuit.

The safety car would be in on the final lap and this would be Mari Boya's day on home soil. A day he would have been dreaming about since he was a kid and no doubt he would have been thinking about it from the start of this weekend. He is the third Spanish driver in Formula 3 to win in Spain in the last three years.

David Vidales and Josep Maria Marti were the ones before him but he has took the chequered flag to win in Formula 3 for the first time in his career and also becomes the ninth Formula 3 winner in 2024.

He saw off challenges from Irishman Alex Dunne of MP Motorsport and his own teammate Oliver Goethe, who finished second and third respectively to complete the podium. Dunne would though be off to see the Stewards for a false start.

Martinius Stenshorne was fourth for Hitech with ART's Laurens Van Hoepen for the top five. Noel Loen finished sixth ahead of Trident's Leonarod Fornaroli, who moves up to second in the points standings.

Dino Beganovic finished eighth, with Arvid Lindblad and Tim Tramnitz rounding out the top 10.

A lot more will be on the line on Sunday as the drivers will contest for the big 25 points on offer, in the feature race with Christian Mansell on pole position, someone who has never won before. If the race is anything like today's you'd be mad not to miss it.

Action continues on Sunday.

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 5 - Spain sprint race provisional classification

1. Mari Boya (Spain, Campos Racing)
2. Alex Dunne (Republic of Ireland, MP Motorsport)
3. Oliver Goethe (Germany, Campos Racing)
4. Martinius Stenshorne (Norway, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
5. Laurens Van Hoepen (Netherlands, ART Grand Prix)
6. Noel Leon (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
7. Leonardo Fornaroli (Italy, Trident)
8. Dino Beganovic (Sweden, Prema Racing)
9. Arvid Lindblad (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
10. Tim Tramnitz (Germany, MP Motorsport)
11. Christian Mansell (Australia, ART Grand Prix)
12. Luke Browning (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
13. Nikola Tsolov (Bulgaria, ART Grand Prix)
14. Cian Shields (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
15. Joseph Loake (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
16. Charlie Wurz (Austria, Jenzer Motorsport)
17. Joshua Dufek (Austria, AIX Racing)
18. Tommy Smith (Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing)
19. Matias Zagazeta (Peru, Jenzer Motorsport)
20. Sophia Floersch (Germany, Van Amersfoort Racing)
21. Santiago Ramos (Mexico, Trident)
22. Max Esterson (United States, Jenzer Motorsport)
23. Kacper Sztuka (Poland, MP Motorsport)
24. Piotr Wisnicki (Poland, Rodin Motorsport)
25. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Thailand, AIX Racing)
26. Gabriele Mini (Italy, Prema Racing) DNF
27. Sebastian Montoya (Colombia, Campos Racing) DNF
28. Sami Meguetounif (France, Trident) DNF
29. Callum Voisin (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport) DNF
30. Nikita Bedrin (Italy, AIX Racing) DNF