F3: Del Pino wins Melbourne Sprint Race ahead of Deligny for VAR 1-2

Bruno del Pino achieved his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in a red flag-shortened Melbourne Sprint Race – leading home Van Amersfoort Racing team mate Enzo Deligny in a 1-2 for the Dutch outfit.

Starting from pole, del Pino stayed ahead down into Turn 1 and had built up a lead of over one second to Deligny early on, while Brando Badoer overtook Noah Stromsted at the start to move to P3.

There was plenty of jostling for position in the opening exchanges before the race was red flagged on Lap 7, after PREMA Racing team mates James Wharton and Louis Sharp collided at the entry to Turn 6 and went into the barrier.

There was no resumption, and it left del Pino as the winner ahead of Deligny, with Badoer completing the podium in third.

With just over 25% of the race having been completed, only the top five could achieve points, with Stromsted finishing fourth for TRIDENT and Taito Kato in P5 for ART Grand Prix.

Maciej Gladysz was the second ART on the leaderboard in sixth, with Wharton and Sharp classified in P7 and P8. Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu was ninth ahead of TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater.

Ugochukwu and Slater are set to start from second and third respectively in the Feature Race, with Campos’ Theophile Nael starting from pole.

Sunday’s race will start at 0850 local time, and you can read a full report from today’s F3 Sprint Race on the official website here.