Roundup of the fifth round of 2024 F3 season as the category reached a century of races, amidst a tense title battle at the half-way stage of the campaign.
PREMA’s Gabriele Mini arrived in Barcelona as the championship leader but a lively weekend saw more twists in the title race, as the lead changed hands whilst someone thrust themselves right into contention as F3 marked its 100th race with a first double winner of the season.
Now, here is all the action from the fifth round of 2024 F3 season in Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Practice
AIX Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was first out on track but everyone only did an installation lap before pitting ahead in a quiet start to the session.
The session eventually came alive in the 22nd minute as everyone filed out and it was PREMA’s Gabriele Mini who set the pace with 1m 28.847 on the first round of flying laps.
Times soon began to tumble as Campos’ Oliver Goethe went quickest but was usurped by Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne in the 38th minute, as the Norwegian topped the session with 1m 28.774 ahead of Goethe and Mini.
Mari Boya however brought the session to an early halt with four minutes left after he suffered a suspension failure, which sent him ploughing into the barriers at Turn 1.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 1m 28.774 |
| 2 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.036 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.073 |
| 4 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.202 |
| 5 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 0.214 |
| 6 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.336 |
| 7 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 0.345 |
| 8 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 0.440 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 0.500 |
| 10 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.503 |
| 11 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 0.676 |
| 12 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 0.713 |
| 13 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 0.819 |
| 14 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.908 |
| 15 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | + 0.924 |
| 16 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | + 0.926 |
| 17 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 0.938 |
| 18 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.956 |
| 19 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 1.004 |
| 20 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 1.060 |
| 21 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 1.141 |
| 22 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | + 1.173 |
| 23 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | + 1.223 |
| 24 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 1.306 |
| 25 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 1.498 |
| 26 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 1.678 |
| 27 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 1.808 |
| 28 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing | + 2,053 |
| 29 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 15.693 |
| 30 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 27.251 |
Qualifying
Beganovic, Mini and Lindblad were first out on track and the Swede set a benchmark 1m 29.937 which was beaten by the latter pair, but it was Van Hoepen who emerged quickest after the first runs ahead of Fornaroli and Mansell.
Browning however topped the second runs with 1m 28.888 ahead of Boya and Mansell as the frontrunners were tightly matched.
Mansell however left it until the penultimate minute to post 1m28.463 to snatch pole from Lindblad, Tsolov, Browning, Goethe, Fornaroli, Stenshorne, Van Hoepen, Dunne, Boya, Meguetounif plus Ramos who claimed reverse-pole for the Sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | 1m 28.463 |
| 2 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | + 0.036 |
| 3 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | + 0.039 |
| 4 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.056 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | + 0.107 |
| 6 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | + 0.209 |
| 7 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | + 0.224 |
| 8 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | + 0.244 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | + 0.248 |
| 10 | Mari Boya | Campos | + 0.321 |
| 11 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 0.345 |
| 12 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | + 0.410 |
| 13 | Noel Leon | VAR | + 0.454 |
| 14 | Dino Beganovic | PREM | + 0.502 |
| 15 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.523 |
| 16 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | + 0.550 |
| 17 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | + 0.569 |
| 18 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | + 0.632 |
| 19 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | + 0.637 |
| 20 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | + 0.639 |
| 21 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | + 0.721 |
| 22 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | + 0.836 |
| 23 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing | + 0.854 |
| 24 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | + 0.882 |
| 25 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | + 0.897 |
| 26 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | + 0.903 |
| 27 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | + 0.924 |
| 28 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | + 0.930 |
| 29 | Tommy Smith | VAR | + 1.046 |
| 30 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | + 1.338 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Ramos made a clean start to lead Meguetounif, Boya and Dunne whilst Goethe gained three positions off the line to put himself fifth in the order.
Ramos’ time in the lead however was ended at the start of Lap 3 after his teammate, Meguetounif got on the inside grass on the run towards Turn 1 and collected the Mexican upon re-joining, which left Ramos with a puncture and Meguetounif out of the race.
The safety car was soon deployed as Callum Voisin and Nikita Bedrin had collided at the same corner to end their races, whilst Boya assumed the lead up front.
Racing resumed on Lap 8 with Boya leading Dunne and Goethe on the restart, but Lindblad dropped from sixth to ninth across three of the following four laps, as Leon, Fornaroli and Beganovic all passed him.
Stenshorne meanwhile passed Van Hoepen for fourth on Lap 10 but was unable to mount a challenge to the top three for the rest of the race.
Outside of the top ten, Montoya drove from 27th on the grid to 12th in a mature drive from the Colombian, yet his performance came to a cruel end after he was taken out by Mini at Turn 5 after the pair initially collided out of Turn 4 which gave the Italian an uncontrollable puncture.
Boya up front fought off Dunne to claim a sprint win at his and Campos’ home event with his teammate, Goethe taking third ahead of Stenshorne, Van Hoepen, Leon and Fornaroli.
Beganovic recovered from 14th on the grid to finish eighth ahead of Lindblad and Tramnitz who rounded out the top ten.
Mini’s race-ending incident meant that his title lead was cut to just three points as Fornaroli moved up to second, albeit just one point higher than Browning who slipped to third in the standings and four points off the summit.
Post-race, Meguetounif was handed a five-place penalty for causing his collision with Ramos which dropped him to 16th on the grid for the Feature Race.
Bedrin meanwhile was handed a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Voisin, which meant that he started the Feature Race from 23rd on the grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Mari Boya | Campos | 21 | 38m 11.211 |
| 2 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 0.453 |
| 3 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | 21 | + 0.828 |
| 4 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 21 | + 1.068 |
| 5 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | 21 | + 1.263 |
| 6 | Noel Leon | VAR | 21 | + 1.735 |
| 7 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 21 | + 1.893 |
| 8 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 21 | + 2.197 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | 21 | + 2.698 |
| 10 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 2.964 |
| 11 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | 21 | + 3.111 |
| 12 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 21 | + 3.375 |
| 13 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 21 | + 3.936 |
| 14 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 21 | + 4.213 |
| 15 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | 21 | + 4.652 |
| 16 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | 21 | + 4.982 |
| 17 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | 21 | + 5.287 |
| 18 | Tommy Smith | VAR | 21 | + 5.787 |
| 19 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | 21 | + 6.938 |
| 20 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | 21 | + 7.117 |
| 21 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 21 | + 7.370 |
| 22 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | 21 | + 7.849 |
| 23 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 8.566 |
| 24 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | 21 | + 8.760 |
| 25 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing | 21 | + 16.556 |
| 26 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | 17 | Collision |
| 27 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 17 | Collision |
| 28 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 2 | Collision |
| 29 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | 2 | Collision |
| 30 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | 2 | Collision |
Feature Race
At lights out for modern F3’s 100th race, Mansell got a clean start to lead Lindblad, Tsolov and Browning whilst Goethe lost positions to Fornaroli, Van Hoepen and Stenshorne, although the German recovered seventh from Stenshorne later on the opening lap.
Drivers quickly settled into tyre management but Lindblad kept Mansell within sight and made his overtake for the lead into Turn 1 on Lap 5, whilst Browning cleared Tsolov for third on that same lap at the same corner.
In the middle of the top ten, Goethe had to wait until Lap 14 to clear Van Hoepen for sixth amidst light rain beginning to move in-land, despite not making much impact upon the on-track action in terms of its weak intensity.
Lindblad eventually cruised to victory from Mansell as Browning lost third to Fornaroli who initially cleared Tsolov on Lap 22, with Goethe following through past the Bulgarian a lap later before the pair demoted Browning to fifth on the final lap.
Tsolov settled for sixth ahead of Dunne, Boya, Beganovic and Leon who benefitted from Stenshorne’s collision with Van Hoepen on the penultimate lap, which saw Van Hoepen get a rear-left puncture upon contact through Turn 4 in seventh position.
Stenshorne initially continued but soon fell down the order with damage to his front right tyre.
In the drivers’ standings, Mini’s failure to again score points saw Fornaroli move top ahead of Browning with a five-point lead, whilst Mini slipped to third and just one point ahead of Lindblad who climbed to fourth and just 13 points off the title lead.
F3 now heads to Austria for the sixth round of the season from 28-30 June in the second of a triple-header.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | PREMA | 25 | 39m 09.719 |
| 2 | Christian Mansell | ART GP | 25 | + 4.447 |
| 3 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 25 | + 5.627 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | Campos | 25 | + 6.498 |
| 5 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 25 | + 7.388 |
| 6 | Nikola Tsolov | ART GP | 25 | + 10.671 |
| 7 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport | 25 | + 10.933 |
| 8 | Mari Boya | Campos | 25 | + 11.883 |
| 9 | Dino Beganovic | PREMA | 25 | + 13.419 |
| 10 | Noel Leon | VAR | 25 | + 14.159 |
| 11 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 25 | + 14.635 |
| 12 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 25 | + 15.962 |
| 13 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos | 25 | + 20.416 |
| 14 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer | 25 | + 21.193 |
| 15 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 25 | + 22.442 |
| 16 | Callum Voisin | Rodin | 25 | + 23.130 |
| 17 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | 25 | + 24.231 |
| 18 | Sophia Floersch | VAR | 25 | + 25.842 |
| 19 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer | 25 | + 27.488 |
| 20 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 25 | + 33.433 |
| 21 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 25 | + 34.379 |
| 22 | Joseph Loake | Rodin | 25 | + 37.395 |
| 23 | Max Esterson | Jenzer | 25 | + 38.305 |
| 24 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin | 25 | + 38.901 |
| 25 | Tommy Smith | VAR | 25 | + 39.534 |
| 26 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing | 25 | + 40.613 |
| 27 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 25 | + 41.328 |
| 28 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 25 | + 47.566 |
| 29 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART GP | 24 | + 1 Lap |
| 30 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing | 22 | + 3 Lap |