MP Motorsport’s Bent Viscaal snatched a dramatic maiden victory in a thrilling second race of F3 Silverstone round.
Having battled Lirim Zendeli throughout the race, Viscaal initially took the lead at Copse but Zendeli fought back round the outside of Stowe and into Vale, although Viscaal got better traction and passed round outside of Club to take his debut F3 win.
Speaking post race on his win, Viscaal described the feeling as “… absolutely incredible.”
Theo Pourchaire finished third after edging Liam Lawson wide at Club as the Aussie eventually got pipped to fourth by David Beckmann, with Oscar Piastri, Jake Hughes, Frederik Vesti, Clement Novalak and Enzo Fittipaldi rounding out the top ten.
Fittipaldi then received a post-race penalty for passing Cameron Das off track at Vale, which meant that Igor Fraga inherited the final point in tenth position as Fittipaldi slipped to 17th with a five second time penalty.
Yesterday’s race winner, Logan Sargeant failed to finish after suffering a puncture on lap 10 from Carlin’s Cameron Das, meaning that Piastri cut his championship deficit to the American down to a single point with four rounds left of this 2020 season.
Reverse pole-sitter, Ben Barnicoat made a poor start as he slid down to third behind Zendeli and Viscaal as mayhem unfolded behind the front runners.
Alex Peroni clipped Aleksandr Smolyar at Village to cause the Russian to spin on entry to The Loop, narrowly avoiding a collision with Roman Stanek before Lukas Dunner and Calan Williams collided on Wellington Straight to trigger a four lap safety car period.
Once racing resumed on lap six, Zendeli and Viscaal locked horns throughout remainder of the race with Viscaal staying within one second of Zendeli throughout the last 15 laps.
Piastri meanwhile lost two positions at the end of lap six after trying a move on Lawson into Club, only to be forced wide but luckily avoided a puncture which ended Sargeant’s race when Das clipped his left rear on entry to Copse when trying an outside move on lap ten.
Barnicoat soon retired one lap later from third with a fuel pump failure as he pulled over on exit of Stowe to cause a brief virtual safety car, with things quietening down until a dramatic final lap.
Piastri dived up inside of Hughes at Village to take sixth with Vesti getting the switchback to follow through, as Viscaal further up got inside line on entry to Copse to take the lead from Zendeli.
Zendeli however fought back round the outside of Stowe to lead into Vale but Viscaal got better traction to sweep around the outside of Club and snatch a maiden F3 victory by just 0.189s.
Lawson challenged Pourchaire for third into Club but the Frenchman clung onto third after forcing the Aussie wide, costing Lawson as Beckmann pipped him to fourth by just 0.019s.
Piastri finished sixth ahead of Hughes who had got passed Vesti for seventh, as Novalak and Fraga rounded out the points.
Race Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 20 | 40m 32.362 |
| 2 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 20 | + 0.189 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 20 | + 8.395 |
| 4 | David Beckmann | Trident | 20 | + 8.829 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 20 | + 8.848 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | 20 | + 9.226 |
| 7 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 10.742 |
| 8 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 20 | + 10.966 |
| 9 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 20 | + 11.501 |
| 10 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | 20 | + 22.833 |
| 11 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 20 | + 23.898 |
| 12 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 20 | + 23.937 |
| 13 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | 20 | + 24.043 |
| 14 | Aleksandr Smolyar | ART GP | 20 | + 24.918 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | 20 | + 25.441 |
| 16 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | 20 | + 26.007 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 26.340 |
| 18 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 26.362 |
| 19 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | 20 | + 26.718 |
| 20 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 20 | + 27.176 |
| 21 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 27.791 |
| 22 | Oli Caldwell | Trident | 20 | + 28.002 |
| 23 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer | 20 | + 28.132 |
| 24 | Alex Peroni | Campos | 20 | + 1m 00.615 |
| 25 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | 10 | Fuel Pump |
| 26 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 10 | Puncture |
| 27 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | 2 | Damage |
| 28 | David Schumacher | Charouz | 1 | |
| 29 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 0 | Collision |
| 30 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 0 | Collision |
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