Starting on pole position for the first time in his Formula 3 career, Alessio Lorandi won his first race in racing cars for the 75th edition of the Grand Prix of Pau. Lance Stroll and George Russell complete the podium.
Alessio Lorandi started on pole for the first time of his career in front of Lance Stroll and Sergio Sette Camara for the Pau Grand Prix.
At the start, Lorandi holds off Stroll but behind them, Camara and Nick Cassidy collide, taking Nikita Mazepin, David Beckmann and Zhi Cong Li with them. Collateral victimes of this accident as well, Pedro Piquet and Guan Yu Zhou pit after the crash. Ben Barnicoat pits as well on the next lap.
Safety car came in after eight minutes under safety car. Anthoine Hubert and Ralf Aron pit just after the re start while Lorandi keept his head down and nailed his restart. Joel Eriksson pushes Ryan Tveter into the absorbing sand and takes sixth place. Stroll keeps putting pressure on Lorandi meanwhile, in the back, Barnicoat overtakes Günther with authority.
George Russell put pressure on Stroll with five minutes to go and rejoins the leaders’ group. For the last minutes of the race, less than two seconds seperate the three leaders and despite Russell’s changes of line to intimidate Stroll, the positions remain the same until the chequered flag.
Alessio Lorandi wins his first FIA F3 race and the Grand Prix of Pau 2016 and bring Carlin their first win of the season. Lance Stroll, by taking second place, overtakes Günther in the standings and becomes leader of the championship. George Russell ends a very positive week-end for him and for Hitech GP at the third place.
Joel Eriksson takes the rookie win ahead of Niko Kari and Ben Barnicoat. The next FIA F3 meeting will be next week at Red Bull Ring for the second DTM round of the season.
