Camara too fast in wet F3™ Feature Race

After three formation laps behind the Safety Car for drivers to adjust to the wet conditions, track position proved to be critical in the race, which was run in varying amounts of rain during its 20 laps.

The 19-year-old Brazilian was able to convert the pole position he secured in Qualifying on Friday to lead away from three Safety Car periods, to build a lead of more than five seconds, before the race ended with a Red Flag due to the track conditions after Singaporean driver Christian Ho spun the DAMS entry at Turn 7. 

Ferrari Academy driver Camara had too much pace for the opposition and likewise, his teammate Noah Strømsted ran second for the whole race, giving the Trident Motorsport team a unique double, after they had the same 1-2 result in the final round of the 2024 F3 championship at Monza, Italy last September.

Frenchman Théophile Naël had a somewhat lonely race to take third, rewarding the Van Amersfoort Racing team, which this year is celebrating its 50th season in supporting young drivers move into the professional motor racing ranks.

There was a great battle for the minor places, with Russian Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing), German Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) and Austrian Charlie Wurz (Trident) hard at it for all the race, but the weather meant that they never had the chance to change position over the closing laps of the race.

James Wharton with a five-place grid penalty after Saturday’s race, starting from 26th. In a train of cars surrounded by spray for all of the race, the Melbourne driver soldiered on to finish 22nd.

Camara’s win gives him 27 points in the F3™ championship, with Naël in second on 19 points and Strømsted third on 18. The 10-round Formula 3 championship will resume for Round 2, in Bahrain, on 11-13 April.