F3 Feature: Rafael Câmara shows complete mastery
- Trisha Lynnette Nathan
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Written by Trisha Lynnette
The Formula 3 Feature Race took place on Sunday at 12:55 PM Bahrain time. With Rafael Câmara of Trident taking the win, followed by Callum Voisin of Rodin Motorsport and Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport, here is a brief recap on the feature race for Round 2 in Sakhir.
The grid was changed a bit after a penalty for Ugochukwu - who will now be starting at 25. We have Rafael Câmara, Callum Voisin and Charlie Wurz on the front row.
The formation lap takes place to get the Pirelli tires up to temperature. Track temperature is pretty high and we will face the same level of degradation.
“The race pace has been my strong suit especially in the tests. I am confident and I know we will race each other clean. We will race each other hard especially but most important is for the team that we score good points. Yeah I will go for the win but I will nevertheless be happy with the podium as well” Charlie Wurz stated.
“I wanna have a clean race and get some points on the board.We had a tricky australia. Not up to my standards I should say. I think we'll see how it pans out obviously. It will be a tricky race to follow with the tire degradation and whatnot, but if there is an opportunity I'd be silly not to go for it. ” said Callum Voisin.
“A very long way to go, of course we started in a good way but we need to keep focus. Other teams are also pushing quite hard to make sure they will be stronger for other races.” said Rafael Câmara.
It lights out and away we go. Rafael Câmara has a good start but Callum Voisin makes a better start and has the run on Câmara. They fight a bit on the outside but Callum has taken the lead. Câmara is under pressure from his teammate. One of the Rodin's did not have a good start at the back of the grid.
We got further fighting from the Trident car of Strømsted. Front of the field we have a good gap between Voisin and Câmara.
Louis Sharp was the Rodin Motorsports car that stalled at the back. Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport has passed Bruno Del Pino of MP Motorsport. Alessandro Giusti of MP Motorsport goes round the outside of Brando Badoer. Martinius Stenshorne of Hitech TGR behind and charges his way. Freddie Slater of AIX Racing fighting away with Giusti.
Voisin has a 7-tenths of a second lead over Câmara. Christian Ho of DAMS Lucas Oil Racing is defending from Tuukka Taponen of ART Grand Prix. James Wharton of ART Grand Prix, Ivan Domingues of VAR and Matías Zagazeta of DAMS Lucas Oil Racing collided causing them to fall back. Santiago Ramos of VAR also drives off track due to the sudden collision. In the front Taponen passes Ho for P4. Slater and Zagazeta enter the pit. Slater is asked to retire the car while Zagazeta has a 30 second gap and is at the back.
Half a second for the lead, Voisin now vulnerable. Câmara takes over Voisin while Wurz records the fastest lap. Câmara goes into defense mode but fails to do so and Voisin takes back the lead. Voisin cuts Câmara off, defending the position. Virtual safety car is called on track for a moment.
Nikola Tsolov of Campos Racing begins making moves on Del Pino and succeeds going up a position to 8th. Nicola Marinangelli of AIX Racing loses speed and gets overtaken by Gerard Xie of Hitech TGR and Théophile Naël of VAR. Wharton comes into the pits to repair damage from the previous collision. DRS brings Câmara closer to Voisin causing Câmara to take the lead. Wurz and Taponen yet to make their moves - possibly trying to save their tyres for the rest of the race.
Ugochukwu climbs to P16, 10 positions up from his starting grid position. Stewards announce that there is no further investigation for the collision between Wharton, Domingues and Zagazeta. Radio confirms that Wurz has pace and can take over Voisin; however Taponen gives constant pressure causing Wurz to lose the DRS from Voisin’s slipstream.
Taponen has a go and gets alongside Wurz but doesn't get through. All this fighting leads to the duo being separated from Voisin and Câmara. Nicola Lacorte of DAMS Lucas Oil goes wide on track. Sharp gets on the outside of Xie.
Taponen overtakes Wurz coming up to P3. Giusti tries getting past the Prema of Brando Badoer to move up to P13 but initially fails to do so. However after a lap or so Giusti passes by Badoer moving closer to the points.
Tramnitz tries to overtake Ho and manages to do so, moving up the grid to P6. Ho had gone wide at turn 2 and 3 causing him to lose momentum and the position. Tramnitz immediately aims for Strømsted trying to get to P5 while Ho is now at P7.
Taponen is unable to catch up to the pace of Voisin, having a 3 second gap. Tsolov goes up a few positions, passing Ho into P7 and climbing the orders - looking to surpass Strømsted. Voisin loses the DRS of Câmara. Mari Boya of Campos does well, coming from P20 to P13 in the race.
Taponen and Wurz begin to battle out for third position again. Tsolov catches up to Tramnitz and Strømsted. Inthraphuvasak moves into turns 5 and 6 and catches the curb, the car struggling a bit and shaking to the sides. Inthraphuvasak tries to take over Lauren Vans Hoepen and gets past the ART Grand Prix Driver.
Its Lap 11 and Câmara is still leading the pack. Boya makes another move this time on the car of Badoer. Badoer and Boya have good pace compared to the rest of the pack. In the meantime Wurz and Taponen still battle out while a bit further, Tsolov and Tramnitz battle it out as well.
Giusti puts in very good lap times matching the pace of race leader Câmara. Tsolov also had good lap times. A battle between Tramnitz, Tsolov and Strømsted appeared, the latter on the defensive from the two Red Bull junior drivers. Tramnitz is the quickest out of the trio and makes it out ahead. Tsolov immediately puts pressure on Strømsted.
At the front Câmara and Voisin have a 3 second gap, Voisin having lost the DRS of Câmara indefinitely. In the meantime Tsolov makes a move in turn one and moves to P6, Strømsted trying to regain that position. Giusti overtakes his teammate for P9 entering into the points.
Tramnitz’s pace causes him to draw a gap between himself and Tsolov. Tramnitz sets his target on Wurz who is slowly losing pace due to tire degradation. At the back, Inthraphuvasak makes a move on Roman Biliński of Rodin Motorsport. However Inthraphuvasak went off track for the advantage and hence receives a ten second penalty.
Sharp and Xie also have a similar incident as noted by the stewards, where Sharp allegedly leaves the track and gains an advantage however he does not receive a penalty. Talking about penalties, Ugo Ugochukwu receives another five second penalty for exceeding track limits.
Inthraphuvasak takes over Badoer and begins putting pressure on Prema teammate León. Biliński loses his position to Van Hoepen. The four drivers attempt to overtake one another but only Inthraphuvasak and Van Hoepen manage to gain one position. Zagazeta voices his concern for Javier Sagrera’s driving asking for him to receive a black flag.
There is a two second gap between Voisin and Taponen, however he does face pressure from the driver behind him, Red Bull Junior, Tramnitz. Tsolov on the otherhand continues to put pressure on Wurz and eventually, even after a good defend from Wurz, overtakes the Trident driver. A trident vs trident battle ensues as Strømsted and Wurz battle it out on track.
At the same time, Giusti, who has now reached P8 tries to overtake the Trident pair but fails to do so. Del Pino is at P10, still within the points. However Boya poses a threat to Del Pino’s points as he tries overtaking the MP driver. Sagrera receives a black and white flag.
Giusti moves up to P7 as he passes Wurz who lost his position to Strømsted. León and Naël have a bit of wheel to wheel contact, while they both complete the race they do lose both momentum and time. Taponen begins struggling with his tires and Tsolov begins to give pressure on the Finnish driver.
However the chequered flag is waved and Rafael Câmara takes the win with a 5 second lead. This marks the history of a driver attaining two poles, two wins and two fastest laps in the beginning of the season. He is followed by Callum Voisin of Rodin Motorsport and Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport who take second and third respectively.
The only other driver to have taken the first two feature race wins in a season is his countryman Gabriel Bortoleto, who currently races in Formula 1, and at the same two tracks. He is also the first driver to convert a pole into not only a podium but also a win at Bahrain.
This extends Câmara’s lead in the championship and solidifies his status as the standout driver to keep an eye on.
“Quite happy with the results. Was a long race but I think we managed with the tires especially - we knew it was going to be a tough condition because it’s super hot throughout. But yeah very happy with the result. The team did an amazing job. It was A good comeback after yesterday with some issues but we came back stronger and yeah just very happy.” said Câmara after his great performance on track that brought him his second feature win in his debut season.
That brings us to the end of the eventful race weekend at Bahrain. We go racing on the 17th and 18th of May at Imola. A long break lies ahead before we dive into the packed European season—but don’t worry, there’s still plenty of racing action in Motorsports! Catch all the coverage right here at DIVEBOMB Motorsports.
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