Martinius Stenshorne claims F3 Monaco sprint race victory
The Norweigan took the lead at the start of the F3 sprint race in Monaco and led to the chequered flag.
MONACO–Martinius Stenshorne took the lead at the start of the FIA Formula 3 sprint race and powered to victory around the streets of Monte Carlo.
"It feels good," said the Norwegian driver.
"Not the optimal call yesterday, a bit of traffic, but ultimately that's what put us in the position to have the total win today.
"It's a good result, and it's really good to do it here."
Polesitter Alessandro Giusti had a horrible start and Stenshorne capitalised immediately, into the lead by turn one and holding his own at the front of the pack.
"It's only on the start really that you can make some moves, so I was really happy to get the position into turn one, and from there on I could just control," said the race winner.
The safety car interrupted the race after a dramatic crash at turn eight when James Hedley, Nicola Lacorte, Santiago Ramos, and Ivan Domingues came together in the tight section over the old bridge.
McLaren junior Stenshorne took victory by 2.2 seconds over Tuuka Taponen, who had also made his way past Giusti at the start, followed by his ART Grand Prix teammate Laurens van Hoepen, who took his first podium since Monaco last year.
Rafael Câmara finished seventh, holding the lead of the drivers' standings on 77 points, while Tim Tramnitz moved to second place on 54 points after his fifth-place finish.
Nikoloa Tsolov will line up in pole position when the FIA Formula 3 field returns for the Monaco feature race at 4pm AEST.
