Ilott surges to maiden victory at Le Castellet

On a slippery track in the south of France, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Callum Ilott achieved his maiden Formula 3 win ahead of  Nick Cassidy, who takes his second second place finish of the day and championship lead off his teammate Lance Stroll. Guanyu Zhou finished in third place and as highest rookie in his second Formula 3 race, showing the race-craft to prove why Ferrari have their eye on him as one of their young drivers.

Pole sitter Maxi Günther suffered a poor start, which dropped him back into the chaotic clutches the drama that so often occurs at turn 1. On this occasion it was Race 1 winner Stroll who was hit, spinning around and catching Günther, Newey and Barnicoat up in the incident as well, forcing the 3 rookies to retire immediately and Stroll to limp into the pits as the safety car made its first appearance of the year. Behind the safety car Cassidy inherited the lead, followed by Illot, Jensen, Zhou and Hubert.

On the restart there was plenty of action – Hubert and Tveter tussled in the mid-points positions, Hyman pulled off an excellent pass on Niko Kari and Alessio Lorandi got up into 8^th. Hyman pulled off another smooth move, this time on Nikita Mazepin, but contact with Sette Câmara dropped him back behind the Russian rookie once again.

Another rookie having a storming race was Joel Eriksson, who was battling with Pedro Piquet outside the top 10. While their fight raged on, Zhou passed Jensen for the final podium spot, becoming the first rookie on the main podium this year. Niko Kari and Ralf Aron joined in the struggle with Piquet and Eriksson; the Swede holding off Piquet and overtaking Mazepin.

Meanwhile at the front, Cassidy lost several seconds, allowing Ilott and Zhou to take the top 2 spots. With the rain starting and George Russell up from last into the points, Aron lost his left rear tyre over a kerb, spinning the Estonian around and stopping just short of the wall as the rogue rubber rolled further down the run off area. This hailed a second safety car, squashing the lead Ilott had begun to build up.

With the time out but one lap remaining the safety car re entered the pits, and while Ilott nailed the get away, Zhou was unable to fend off the determined Kiwi in his mirrors and Cassidy slid back up to second. Behind the top 3 was very nearly pandemonium. Lorandi – always entertaining to watch – battled with Sette Câmara and Tveter, and Hyman executed another daring pass, this time on George Russell pushing the Brit out of the points.

With a 1.2 second gap built up on the final lap Callum Ilott crossed the line first, gaining his first FIA European Formula 3 victory, and the first for Van Amersfoort Racing since Norisring last year with Charles Leclerc, who was on hand to present the winning team trophy to his old team and to fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Zhou. Joining Zhou on the rookie podium was Anthoine Hubert (also of Van Amersfoort Racing) and the overtaking meister of the day: Jimmy Eriksson.

Race 2 Result

Bold indicates rookie